79,000 Burundian refugees repatriated from Tanzania

   DAR ES SALAAM, Dec. 4 -- The UN refugee agency and the governments of Tanzania and Burundi have jointly facilitated voluntary repatriation of 79,728 Burundian refugees from Tanzania in safety and dignity, said a communique released on Tuesday night.
   The communique issued at the end of the 21st meeting of the Tripartite Commission for the Voluntary Repatriation of Burundian Refugees in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam said the 79,728 refugees have been repatriated between September 2017 and November 7, 2019.
   The communique said the three parties have agreed to maintain the capacity and preparedness to transport from Tanzania and receive in Burundi up to 2,000 voluntary returns per week, on convoys of up to 1,000 each.
   According to the communique emailed to Xinhua on Wednesday, the three parties agreed to pursue meaningful reintegration of all returning refugees in a sustainable and durable manner.
   The meeting noted that while some refugees may opt to return now, others may still have well founded reasons for not seeking to return at the present time, and will continue to benefit from international protection, said the communique.
   It added that the meeting commended Tanzania for continuing to keep its doors open to those refugees who meet relevant criteria of UN refugee conventions and protocols.
   Following the validation exercise conducted from August to October 2019, Tanzania currently hosts 278,275 refugees and asylum seekers, of which approximately 166,000 are Burundian, most of whom arrived in the western region of Kigoma since April 2015.