DAR ES SALAAM, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The UN refugee agency said on Wednesday conditions in Burundi are not currently conducive to promote return of refugees sheltered in Tanzania's western region of Kigoma.
"While overall security has improved, UNHCR is of the opinion conditions in Burundi are not currently conducive to promote returns," said a statement issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) Regional Bureau for East and Horn of Africa.
The UN refugee agency issued the statement in response to a warning by Tanzanian authorities last week to organizations and individuals that were stopping Burundian refugees wishing to go home on voluntary basis, saying those implicated will face the full force of the law.
However, UNHCR said in the statement it was assisting refugees who indicated they have made a free and informed choice to voluntarily return.
The statement issued in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam said nearly 75,000 refugees have returned to Burundi since Sept 2017.
UNHCR called upon the governments of Tanzania and Burundi's commitment to uphold international obligations and ensure that any returns were voluntary in line with the tripartite agreement signed in March of 2018, said the statement.
"UNHCR urges states to ensure that no refugee is returned to Burundi against their will, and that measures are taken to make conditions in Burundi more conducive for refugees' returns, including confidence building efforts and incentives for those who have chosen to go home," said the statement.
In the meantime, said the statement, hundreds still flee Burundi each month.
UNHCR urged governments in the region to maintain open borders and access to asylum for those who need it and appealed for funding to assist the more than 400,000 refugees who remain in exile and to assist and reintegrate refugees who have chosen to return and those expected to voluntarily return in 2019, said the statement.
On Saturday last week, Tanzanian Minister for Home Affairs Kangi Lugola said anybody that will be implicated in halting the voluntary repatriation of Burundian refugees, be it organizations working in refugee camps, a Tanzanian or a Burundian will face the music.
Lugola made the warning when he addressed Burundian refugees at Nduta refugee camp in Kigoma region.
Burundian Minister for Home Affairs and Rural Development, Paschal Barandagiye, assured the government of Tanzania that the situation in Burundi was now calm and appealed to his fellow countrymen to return home to reconstruct their country.
"Don't be deceived by politicians. Burundi is now peaceful and the country has opened its doors for your voluntary return," Barandagiye assured the Burundian refugees.
On July 20, 2017, Tanzanian President John Magufuli called on the Burundian refugees sheltered in the country to return home voluntarily and help build their country, asserting that now there was security in the tiny central African country.
Magufuli's remarks were in support of an earlier plea by Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza, who had called on his fellow countrymen to go back home and help rebuild their country because the "war is over."
