Burundians fleeing food shortages, insecurity go to Tanzania, UN refugee agency says

An increasing number of Burundians are fleeing their country to shelter in overcrowded way stations in neighbouring Tanzania, citing lack of food and growing insecurity as their reasons for leaving home, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today.

“There are visible cases of malnutrition among the new arrivals,” UNHCR spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis told journalists at the UN complex in Geneva. “A toddler died last week on arrival suffering from dehydration and three young children died in January from acute respiratory infection.”

More than 4,000 Burundian asylum seekers are living in three way stations in the district of Kibondo, in north-western Tanzania, she said. Some 3,500 Burundians have crossed the border since the beginning of last month and the numbers have been growing at an average rate of 100 new arrivals a day.

More than 500 newcomers were registered in way stations along the border yesterday alone, most of them at Nyakimonomono, where more than 2,500 people now live in very poor conditions, she said.

“The living conditions in Nyakimonomono and other way stations are not good,” Ms. Pagonis said. “Way stations are designed to receive people who have just crossed the border for a very short period of time only – no more than a few days in most cases.”

UNHCR and its partners have done their best to improve conditions in the way stations, she said. Water supplies have been improved, the ground drained around water supply areas, new garbage pits dug and additional shelters, kitchens and latrines built.

Nonetheless, the health hazards of having so many people staying in places meant to accommodate only a few are high and staff on the ground describe the situation as critical, she said. Concern is especially high for those most vulnerable – small children, the elderly and the sick and pregnant women.

Following the peace accord that brought years of ethnic violence to an end in 2002, UNHCR started a voluntary operation which repatriated more than 290,000 Burundian refugees at a rate that rose to 10,000 people per month. The number of those choosing to repatriate has plummeted in recent months, however, to around 1,000 people a month.

UNHCR said it is aiding some 350,000 refugees in Tanzania, 195,000 of them from Burundi and the rest mainly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).