Dar es Salaam — A total of 454,350 refugees from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been voluntarily returned home since the repatriation exercise began in 2002.
Home Affairs Spokesperson Isaac Nantanga said in a statement on the status of the repatriation exercise in Tanzania that 11,698 refugees returned home in the first three months of this year.
In addition to those repatriated to their native countries, 5,888 other refugees were granted asylum in January and February under the programme which is coordinated by the International Organisation of Migrants (IOM).
A total of 4,981 refugees were resettled in the United States, 50 in Canada, 21 in Norway, 94 in the Netherlands while 604 are waiting to be granted asylum in the US.
Mr Nantanga said Tanzania currently hosted 423,642 refugees from Burundi, DRC and Somalia, with Burundi and the DRC having 322,305 and 99,403 refugees respectively in the country.
Tanzania is also home to refugees from Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and Kenya.
Mr Nantanga said eight of the 13 official refugee camps had been closed down since the repatriation exercise began.
The camps are Lugufu in Kigoma District, Muyovosi (Kasulu), Lukole B (Ngara), Kitali (Biharamulo) and Karago, Mtendeli, Mkugwa, and Kanembwa (Kibondo).
Mr Nantanga said there was a significant number of people who had settled in Tanzania after entering the country as refugees in the 1970s. Most of them live in Rukwa and Tabora regions.
The governments of Tanzania and Burundi and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees agreed to close down all refugee camps by December this year.
The ongoing repatriation exercise started in 2002 and 2005 and involves refugees from Burundi and the DRC.
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Tanzania must stop sending tanzanian citizen for resttlement to canada by using the congolese files , so this means that congolese refugees who applied for resettlement to canada were ripped off by tanzanian refugees camp authorities ,by giving o tanzanians citizen to come to canada instead of congolese and this we who are in canada have already rapported it to canadian immigration in Ottawa and all those tanzanians are heading to the western province of canada Alberta precisely in Calgary, now the tanzanian refugees camp authorities must know that their dirty behaviour and bad manneuver were out of the sun ,were known they should stop this cupidity and stupiditynow immediately. To crack down those tanzanian is easy ,If the immigration could pass an interview by asking each of them to tell you where they come from in the presence of real congolese from Quebec Serbrooke because a big number of congolese who came to canada in 2000-2001 are located in sherbrooke and that will help the immigration to catch them( THE JUST SPEAK SWAHILI AND A LITTLE BIT OF ENGLISH THOSE TANZANIANS DO NOT KNOW FRENCH THAT'S WHY THEY CHOSE TO GO TO CALGARY)
Tanzania must stop send tanzanian citezen for resttlement to canada by using the congolese files , so this means that congolese refugees who applied for resttlement to canada were ripped off by tanzanian refugees camp authorities ,by giving o tanzanians citizen to come to canada instead of congolese and this we who are in canada have already repported it to canadian immigration in Ottawa and all those tanzanians are heading to the western province of canada Alberta precisely in Calgary, now the tanzanian refugees camp authorities must know that their dirty behaviour and bad manneuver were out of the sun ,were known they should stop this cupidity and stupiditynow immediately.