UNHCR repatriates more refugees

THE United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has repatriated 54,740 refugees from Tanzania to the their respective countries.

A statement issued by the UNHCR in Dar es Salaam yesterday said that some Burundian refugees and those from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have voluntarily decided to go back home.

A total of 27,287 Burundian refugees have returned home this year, while 21,405 Congolese refugees returned to their country under the facilitated voluntary repatriation programme.

A total of 5,498 refugees who were in the country have now been resettled in the United States, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway and Finland, while 550 Somalis were naturalised and became Tanzanian citizens.

Tanzania is still among countries hosting the largest number of refugees in Africa, the refugee population assisted by UNHCR in the camps has dropped from 287,000 last year to 228,522 this year.

Tanzania currently hosts 124,706 refugees from Burundi, 101,309 from the DRC, and 1,362 from Somalia.