BUJUMBURA August 11th (ABP) – Some 49,989 Burundian refugees made up of 15,748 households returned to their land from January 1 to August 9, 2021, according to the Director General in charge of repatriation, Mr. Nestor Bimenyimana.
Those returnees returned from refugee camps in Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Cameroon, DRC and Zambia in 115 convoys.
The General Director in charge of repatriation also notes the facilitated voluntary return of 170,189 refugees who are made up of 56,836 households who came in 404 convoys from August 1, 2017 to August 9, 2021.
In that movement of facilitated voluntary repatriation, refugees living in Tanzania break the record in terms of numbers with 133,034 returnees, followed by Rwanda with a workforce of 28,696, the DRC with a workforce of 6,932, Kenya with a workforce of 1,255 returnees, Uganda with a staff of 233 voluntary returnees, Zambia with a staff of 11 returnees, Burkina Faso with a staff of 3 returnees and three other countries such as Gabon, Senegal and Malawi with a return of one only returnee for each.
As a reminder, as mentioned in the joint plan for the return and reintegration of refugees counting for the 2021 financial year, the UNHCR in collaboration with the Burundian ministry in charge of education and its partners will initiate projects aimed at the school reintegration of children repatriated or from host communities.
That intervention, specifies the UNHCR, will be carried out through the physical modernization of health facilities and the provision of school materials. Thus, in order to promote schooling and fight against child malnutrition, school feeding programs will be supported in addition to the activities implemented as part of the health and nutrition response.
The UNHCR specifies through the same document that, to ensure the reintegration of repatriated refugee children in basic, post-basic and higher education, remedial sessions will be offered and learning programs will be set up for children who are not. educated.
Mention that in May 2021, Bujumbura (economic capital) hosted the 25th Meeting of the technical working group on the voluntary repatriation of Burundian refugees living in the United Republic of Tanzania.