OUAGADOUGOU, March 10 — The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday commended the efforts of the Burkinabe government in managing refugees, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso said in a statement on Tuesday.
Burkina Faso’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karamoko Jean Marie Traore, together with his colleagues and representatives of ministerial departments involved in refugee management, held a working session with a UNHCR delegation led by Ruvendrini Menikdiwela, UNHCR’s assistant high commissioner for protection.
During the meeting, Menikdiwela praised the “enormous efforts” made by the Burkinabe government to ensure its legendary hospitality and provide asylum to people forced to flee, according to the statement.
“What impressed me the most from the very beginning is the fact that refugees are integrated into host communities as soon as they arrive on Burkinabe soil.
This is not necessarily the case in other asylum countries, in other regions that are economically much better off than the Sahel region,” the UNHCR envoy was quoted as saying.
While congratulating the Burkinabe government and people for facilitating the integration of displaced persons, the assistant high commissioner also reaffirmed her organization’s commitment to supporting Burkina Faso’s humanitarian policy.
This policy takes into account refugees, internally displaced persons, returnees to their places of origin, as well as local communities, with emphasis on reintegration and social cohesion.
Burkina Faso’s 2026 National Humanitarian Response Plan is estimated at nearly 769.8 billion CFA francs (about 1.4 billion U.S. dollars) and aims to benefit more than 4.4 million vulnerable people. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
