The UNHCR’s « Go and See » program has been expanding across the DRC in recent days. In collaboration with Burundian and Congolese authorities, the UNHCR had a team of Burundian refugees visit their country for five days to come back and testify, with the aim of encouraging more refugees to return to their country. But the result may not be satisfactory.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The delegation went to Burundi on June 28 and returned to South Kivu in eastern Congo on July 2. It was made up of representatives of refugees from the Mulongwe and Lusenda camps, refugees settled in the towns and outside the two sites, Congolese officials, UNHCR agents and the Congolese commission in charge of refugees. Local civil society leaders were also part of the mission.

Refugees invited to this visit had to visit their region of origin and meet former refugees who returned from several countries.

Satisfaction

Déo Ntakarutimana is among the Burundians who traveled through quite a few provinces of the small East African nation for five days.

“I noticed that peace reigns in Burundi,” he told SOS Médias Burundi upon his return. Déo shares this feeling with Albert Hakizimana. This father is from the province of Cibitoke (northwest Burundi), one of the provinces which has several inhabitants in the camps in the DRC. For him, “everything is fine in my country except that life has become very expensive”.

Disappointment

Some refugees say that « it is better to live in the camp than returning home because people suffer from hunger and poverty there. »

Joseph Minani is responsible for refugees living outside the camps in the territory of Fizi, in the province of South Kivu in the east of the DRC. He was sent to Rumonge in southwest Burundi.

« I am not ready to return to Burundi. The country lacks everything. And the 200 dollars that we are given as a return package is insignificant. Life is so expensive today, » laments this refugee representative.

However, the Congolese commission in charge of refugees hopes that Burundians who have been invited to this visit will be able to raise awareness among their peers about voluntary return.

“This trip will undoubtedly help in raising awareness among Burundian refugees about voluntary repatriation,” says Prosper Abioyo, head of the Congolese commission in charge of refugees in Uvira. The DRC is home to more than 41,000 Burundian refugees, most of whom are settled in two sites based in the territory of Fizi in the province of South Kivu, namely Mulongwe and Lusenda.

File photo : a woman refugee from Mahama in Rwanda receives the Burundian flag from Prime Minister Gervais Ndirakobuca, then minister in charge of internal affairs as a sign of welcome on the Burundian territory, August 2022 (SOS Médias Burundi)