EU gives 4 million euros to Burundi for reintegration of former refugees
Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - The European Union (EU) has given 4 million euros to support the local office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in its protection and assistance activities for 60,000 Burundians who have recently returned from exile, the two parties announced in a statement received by PANA on Tuesday.
The fund will contribute to UNHCR's activities in monitoring the protection of returnees in their areas, providing durable shelter to the most vulnerable, improving transit centres and distributing basic necessities, the statement said.
Other services included in the funding relate to documentation, medical care, transportation and registration of returnees.
The release recalls that since 2017, when the assisted repatriation of refugees from the 2015 election crisis in Burundi was officially launched, UNHCR has facilitated the return home of 187,698 refugees, mainly from neighbouring Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya.
More than 320,000 Burundians still live in exile abroad, including 126,785 in Tanzania, 47,806 in Rwanda, 40,570 in DR Congo, 51,938 in Uganda, 16,000 in Kenya, 8,700 in Mozambique, 10,800 in Malawi, 9,900 in South Africa and 8,100 in Zambia, according to UNHCR figures.
Foreigners are also taking refuge in Burundi, such as Congolese nationals who are currently estimated at 84,248.
The protection and empowerment of Congolese refugees in Burundi is financed by the EU to the tune of 4.6 million euros, the statement said.
The EU now only intervenes in the humanitarian activities in Burundi, where the violent political and human rights crisis of 2015 led to the country freezing aid from its main traditional technical and financial partners.
The country also has more than 115,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) as a result of natural disasters and/or the internal political situation.
-0- PANA FB/JSG/BBA/MA 1Feb2022
