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According to the CIA, not only were there 100,000 internally
displaced people within Burundi following the civil war there, a
further 352,640 Burundi refugees were living in Tanzania, 17,777
refugees were living in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 4400
were in Rwanda, in addition to those who had fled further afield. Many of those displaced had left Burundi in the conflict of
1972 followed by further waves as a result of the long civil war and had been living in refugee camps, most notably in
Tanzania. Inevitably an entire generation of Burundi children
had never actually been to their country of origin and had no
ties there, certainly no property to live in nor land to work to
create a sustainable living.
The refugee situation in Burundi is
probably the longest running refugee episode in modern history. Over the past few years the situation in Burundi has calmed,
and inevitably the refugee caps, notably in Tanzania,
have started to close, with their inhabitants being advised to
return to Burundi. Despite the 500,000 refugees who have
returned home since 2006, 162,000 remained in Tanzania having
been granted citizenship (these were mainly Hutu and had already
migrated from the refugee camps and integrated within Tanzanian
society) and around 5000 have expressed a wish
to remain in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Ironically,
Burundi is home to 40,00 refugees who fled there from the DRC.)
It is difficult to fully comprehend the plight of these
refugees. It was not a matter of fleeing violence to the
relative safety of camps in mainly western Tanzania, but a
chaotic and terrifying flight with people being massacred behind
them. Many who arrived in the camps were children, traumatised
by seeing their parents slaughtered in front of their eyes and
not knowing what part of Burundi they came from, nor much about
themselves, and certainly with no documentation. Whilst the camps themselves were safer than the situation in
Burundi, they were no safe havens. Hastily constructed with
little or no management, violence was rife, orphans were at risk
and girls in particular could supplement their food aid by
providing 'favours' for older men.
The children who grew up
there not only had to cope with the trauma of their past, but
lived in fear and had no meaningful future to return to.
The situation for women was equally dire as an early Human
Rights Watch report entitled Seeking Protection: Addressing
Sexual and Domestic Violence in Tanzania's Refugee Camps
noted, "When Burundi women fled the internal conflict there, they
expected to find safety and protection in the refugee camps.
Instead, they simply escaped one type of violence in Burundi to
face other forms of abuse in the refugee camps in Tanzania." As the civil war itself ended, the international community
lost interest and funding to support those in the camps largely
dried up leaving organisations such as UNICEF almost alone in
trying to identify and match children with their extended
families and provide child protection and support services.
As
the refugee camps began to close with Tanzania, already one of
the world's poorest countries
eager to repatriate those living in exile, many faced an
uncertain future particularly families with mixed marriages
between Hutu-Tutsi. Those families became convinced that they
would be killed on their return to Burundi, and many fled the
camps and tried to disappear without papers or anywhere to go
with their children. The video (below) explores many of the
challenges these returning refugees face, not least where to
live in what is already one of the most densely populated
nations of Africa. Against this backdrop is the simmering
tension between the Hutu and the Tutsi, tension which could
again erupt over land disputes, particularly for those returning
refugees who hope to reclaim land and property they abandoned
under duress some quarter of a century ago.
Burundi Refugees: Volunteer in Burundi
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Burundi Refugees: Burundi Civil War
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Burundi Refugees: Child Sponsor Burundi
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Burundi Refugees: Burundi Country Profile
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