HE United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has handed over 16 vehicles worth 500,000 US dollars (about 1.1bn/-) to the government of Tan-zania to support operations in refugee camps and host communities.
Speaking during the hand over ceremony in Dar es Salaam on Saturday, Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Jumanne Sagini commended UNHCR for its continued support and coop-eration with Tanzania to en-sure that refugees and asy-lum seekers continue to live peacefully while accessing the required basic needs.
“I am however, calling for UNHCR and the inter-national community to im-prove repatriation systems and work closely with the government to ensure that refugees from countries that have regained peace go back to their homelands,” he said.
According to him, Bu-rundi has already regained peace, so supporting it eco-nomically will also enable it to improve service provision and support safe and com-fortable stay for the return-ing Burundians.
He stressed that the reason for the Burundian refugee crisis was political instability, but the situation has now stabilised and there is enough security to enable its citizens to live peace-fully.
The Minister also high-lighted that the government of Tanzania will continue to keep its door open to genu-ine and credible asylum seekers and refugees in need of international protection and asylum.
He said the donated vehicles include three am-bulances which will be deployed in the Kigoma Region to serve residents in Kasulu, Kibondo and Ka-konko districts.
Mr Sagini further said the remaining 13 vehicles will be handed over to Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation to assist with daily operations for refu-gees and asylum seekers in the country.
He further called the public to ensure that they participate fully in the Pop-ulation and Housing Census scheduled for August 23 as it was an important exercise for the country’s develop-ment.
UNHCR country repre-sentative Mahoua Parums said Tanzania started re-ceiving refugees many years back even before indepen-dence and has remained a peaceful hub for thousands of refugees from various countries.
She said UNHCR and the International community appreciate the government and people of Tanzania for providing safe harbour for decades of populations forced to flee their countries.
“We thank the govern-ment of Tanzania for stand-ing together with UNHCR and other international communities in providing refugee protection, and as-sistance and seeking to-gether durable solutions for refugees, as a manifestation of international solidarity and burden sharing, we are donating 16 vehicles to fur-ther strengthen service pro-vision,” she said.
She noted that Tanzania hosts almost 230,000 refu-gees in the Nyarugusu and Nduta camps where with-out the country’s support it would be very difficult for UNHCR to work smoothly to serve them.
Ms Parums said in De-cember 2018, Member States of the UN General Assembly made the historic decision to adopt the Glob-al Compact for Refugees (GCR). The Compact calls for the needs of both refu-gees and their host commu-nities to be taken into con-sideration to ensure that the hospitality is matched with development investment.
“In line with the GCR’s aspirations and spirit, we applaud the solidarity of the government and the people of Tanzania with refugees. We recognize all the ef-forts and sacrifices required to sustain the institution of asylum.
In 2008 the process of application for naturalisa-tion started and in 2014, the world witnessed a historic landmark of over 162,000 refugees granted naturali-sation status by the Gov-ernment of Tanzania with refugees receiving their cer-tificates graced by the then president Jakaya Kikwete.
“This was the first of its kind not only in Africa but also in the world to have a large number like this grant-ed status. As UNHCR, we do not take lightly the great hospitality given to our per-sons of concern,” she noted.
The naturalised citizens have integrated very well into the community and are living a very successful life. They have opened up busi-nesses, contributed to the economy of the country and are peacefully integrated and supported by the gov-ernment of Tanzania.”
Director for refugee ser-vices in the Home Affairs Ministry Sudi Mwakibasi said UNHCR was an im-portant partner for Tanzania saying that vehicles will fa-cilitate the smooth implan-tation of various initiatives in serving the refugees and all the asylum seekers in the country.