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Nduta (Tanzania) : Resumption of the ransacking of refugees’ fields

The Nduta camp administration has ordered the destruction of the refugees’ vegetable and cereal fields. For the administration, this type of agricultural and commercial activity discourages the voluntary repatriation movement.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

It is mainly the bean and rice fields that have been destroyed.

They are located in a valley, just at the end of zone I.

“What is really astonishing is to see people singing and enjoying themselves when they destroy fields. It was inhuman. The cut beans were not even at the stage of producing flowers. It is like knowingly killing a pregnant cow,” says a young woman who helplessly watched the destruction of her crops.

The “dirty work” was supervised by a certain “Octavia”, from the office of the president of the camp, known for almost all acts of torture, imprisonment, inhuman and cruel treatment inflicted on Burundian refugees.

“He came on his motorbike, accompanied by a van full of machetes. Civilian guards called ‘Sungusungu’ carried out this task with enthusiasm. It was very cynical to see Sungusungu cutting down the fields of their Burundian compatriots,” he adds.

What irritated the administration, we learned, is that refugees are selling vegetable leaves on the streets.

“Since all the markets, shops and stands have been closed, some Burundians are forced to sell these vegetables in the streets and villages of the camp. Even the staff of different humanitarian NGOs in the camp bought one or two piles of vegetables in the evening after work. So, the administration did not appreciate this trade and indicates that it does not promote the so-called voluntary repatriation movement,” analyzes a Burundian refugee, one of the intellectuals of the camp.

Added to this are injunctions given to refugees to stop all agricultural activity in the camp.

“We will never forget corn fields and banana plantations cut down every month. Young civilian guards crisscross the villages to see if there are any crops germinating,” say Burundians in this camp.

Very recently, the ministry in charge of refugees in Tanzania informed administration authorities of the Kibondo district where the Nduta camp is located that it will be closed next December to transform the place into “a firefighters’ camp”

These statements and actions worry refugees while they are forced to return “voluntarily” before next December.

Agrey Magwaza, Mayor of Kibondo, met with leaders from localities surrounding Nduta camp on August 18 to discuss the plan. They included chiefs from localities such as Kumuhasha, Biturana, Nengo and Maroregwa.

He confirmed that the area’s firefighters are ready to move to the camp after it closes in December.

“The Burundian and Tanzanian governments and the UNHCR have agreed that all Burundian refugees must be repatriated before the end of this year. That is why we need to think ahead about what to do with the camp,” he said.

For refugees, this is a flagrant, pure and simple
violation of international conventions such as the 1951 Geneva Convention which stipulates that « refugees must be protected until they themselves make a decision to return voluntarily, of their own free will, without any constraint or force from the host country ».

They regret the impotence of the UNHCR which is supposed to follow the same convention to the letter. « It has failed in its protection mission and could be dragged before international courts », indicate human rights activists.

According to UNHCR figures from the end of July, the number of Burundian refugees in Nduta stands at more than 58,000.

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A child watches a young peacekeeper cutting down a banana tree, January 2022 (SOS Médias Burundi)