Burundi: Refugees International argues large-scale repatriation would threaten peace

This year UNHCR plans to repatriate 150,000 out of 300,000 Burundian refugees who fled to Tanzania in the past decade. The UNHCR facilitated repatriation process is moving at a rapid pace, perhaps too rapid. Refugees International (RI) is concerned that the pace of the repatriation threatens the security of the returning refugees for two reasons. First, UNHCR Burundi lacks the capacity to protect the returnees at the current levels of repatriation. Second, conditions inside Burundi are unstable, with continued violence in rural areas and fundamental issues, such as land rights, unresolved.