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Burundi Situation Regional Update (January 2018)

Countries
Tanzania
+ 4 more
Sources
UNHCR
Publication date
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430, 087 Total refugees from Burundi in the four main hosting countries (Tanzania, Rwanda, DRC,
Uganda), as of 31 January 2018.

766 Burundian refugees assisted to return from Tanzania in January 2018, in addition to 13,102 assisted to return in 2017.

1218 Burundian refugee arrivals recorded in January 2018.

Highlights and Operational Context

  • Some 430,000 Burundian refugees are being hosted across the region by the governments and people of Tanzania, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.

  • The recent surge in violence in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is driving large numbers of Congolese to flee to neighboring Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda, which is straining resources and negatively impacting the response to Burundi refugees and returnees in those countries. During January 2018, Uganda received 10,533 asylum seeks from DRC, Burundi over 8,000, and 1,207 persons had arrived in Tanzania.

  • The Government of Burundi is encouraging its citizens to sign up to cast their votes in the upcoming constitutional referendum scheduled for May 17.
    The constitutional referendum proposes to change the length of the presidential term from five to seven years, among other changes.

  • Due to funding shortfalls, WFP has implemented in all camps in Rwanda a 25 per cent reduction from January onwards in food or cash assistance affecting more than 100,000 refugees from Burundi and DRC. In Tanzania, which host the majority of Burundian refugees, food rations remain at 72 per cent (reduced by 28 percent) as they have been for much of 2017.

  • According to IOM most recent Displacement Tracking Mechanism report, from November 2017 to January 2018, there was a decrease of 11,690 internally displaced persons (IDP’s) in Burundi, or 6% of IDPs across the country. The main reasons driving this movement are the rehabilitation of IDP homes, the achievement of sustainable solutions, the restoration of security, and improved harvests in the areas of origin of IDPs who had fled the consequences of drought during the previous months. Kayanza, Bururi, Mwaro and Gitega are the provinces where this decrease has been most significant.