DAR ES SALAAM, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is ready to facilitate quick repatriation of Burundian refugees who have volunteered to return home and rebuild their country, a senior Tanzanian government official said on Friday.
Projest Rwegasira, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, said the UN refugees' agency agreed to facilitate the repatriation this week following talks with high-level government officials.
The voluntary repatriation of the Burundian refugees follows the recent directive by President John Magufuli to the refugees to voluntarily return to their country and help rebuild their economy.
Rwegasira said the UNHCR delegation to the talks was led by Volker Turk, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, adding: "We have had successful talks with the UNHCR representatives."
Rwegasira, a retired Major General with the Tanzania People's Defence Forces (TPDF), said the government will hold another high-ranking meeting in Dar es Salaam by the end of this month.
He said the August 31 meeting will bring together high ranking officials from UNHCR, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Co-operation, experts, and regional commissioners from Katavi, Tabora, Kagera and Kigoma.
"The UNHCR has shown willingness to facilitate repatriation of the Burundian refugees and to assist in establishing new homes in Burundi," said Rwegasira.
He said his ministry has formed a task force from various institutions including Kigoma region authorities and UNHCR to prepare the refugees' new homes, budget for the repatriation exercise and other arrangements for their safe return.
Rwegasira said about 7,450 Burundian refugees have voluntarily registered to return home by Wednesday, August 9.
President Magufuli's directive to the refugees to go home followed Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza's assurance to Tanzania that his country has stabilized.
On July 20, Magufuli called on the Burundian refugees now in the country to return home voluntarily and help build their country, asserting that now there was security in the tiny central African country.
Magufuli's remarks were in support of an earlier plea by Nkurunziza, who had called on his fellow countrymen to go back home and help rebuild their country because the "war is over."
Magufuli also took a swipe at international humanitarian bodies for trying to convince refugees not to return to their home countries because of continued insecurity, just so they can continue receiving aid from donors.
The president also directed the Ministry of Home Affairs not to grant citizenship to any more Burundian refugees coming into Tanzania.
In 2014, Tanzania announced that it was in the process of granting citizenship to 162,000 Burundian refugees who had fled their country in 1972.
In June this year, the UN refugee agency said Tanzania remained the largest host of Burundian refugees.
Tanzania is currently home to more than 315,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, mainly from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are hosted in three refugee camps of Nyarugusu, Nduta, and Mtendeli, which face severe pressure.
