14 000 refugees back to Burundi

2005-09-13 07:15

Dar Es Salaam - Nearly 14 000 Burundi refugees returned home last month from camps in neighbouring Tanzania, more than twice the number that returned in July, said the United Nations refugee agency on Monday.

The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said some 13 746 refugees voluntarily returned to their tiny central African nation in August, up from 5 399 in July.

A UNHCR official said: "We are seeing a dramatic increase in the number of Burundian refugees returning home voluntarily.

"After the elections, many refugees want to return home and the UNCHR is helping them", adding that the agency had so far facilitated the return of 185 333 refugees since the exercise begun in March 2002.

The official added that the UNHCR had increased the number of convoys out of Ngara, Kasulu and Kibondo camps in western Tanzania.

Last month, the agency expressed optimism in Geneva that the number of Burundi refugees returning home might increase significantly after peaceful elections in the central African nation.

Last month, Burundi inaugurated its first post-transitional president, ending years of bloody civil war that claimed the lives of 300 000 people.

- AFP