East Africa’s forgotten refugees

World Refugee Day, which was founded by the United Nations to raise awareness and highlightthe rights, needs, and dreams of refugees, was celebrated for the first time on June 20, 2001.

Twenty-three years later, as World Refugee Day 2024 approaches, many people living in campsfind their lives clouded by growing insecurity resulting from deepening cuts to their rations as aresult of higher prices, declining donations, overcrowding in camps, and continued growth in thenumber of refugees worldwide. And in some countries, refugees report anxiety because ofviolence and threats of repatriation.

According to a February 2024 NPR report, “300 million people worldwide are in urgent need of food, shelter, health care and other essential resources. That number has grown as protracted crises stack up in places like Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Myannmar, and acute emergencies in Gaza and Ukraine pile on the need. Besides wars and conflicts, natural disasters accelerated by climate change and global economic struggles areadding to the toll.”

Amjambo Africa spoke with refugees and members of refugee rights organizations in camps in East Africa. These included Mahama Camp, Rwanda; Nakivale Camp, Uganda; Mulongwe and Lusenda Camps, DR Congo; Nduta and Nyarugusu Camps, Tanzania; and Dzaleka Camp, Malawi. The overall picture of life in these camps was bleak.

Note: When a source is not named, this is because of fear of reprisals.

Resource scarcity in refugee camps

Rwanda: At the Mahama Camp in eastern Rwanda, which hosts over 63,000 refugees, residents complained that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had cut fuel assistance for refugees by half. In addition, there have been cuts in food and water. Along with these cuts have come rising prices in the markets, with the cost of essentials like charcoal, rice, and tubers doubling and even tripling.

“Normally, a person should get 18 liters of water per day multiplied by the family size. They announced they would reduce this amount and also revise the tap opening schedule. We are in despair,” one refugee in Mahama said.

A number of refugees expressed their suspicion that the hidden goal of the cuts and price increases is forced repatriation: “It’s a form of disguised forced repatriation. We bitterly realize they no longer want us, but are doing it slyly,” one man said.

The refugees call for the cuts to end and for adequate aid while they wait for conditions to normalize in their home countries. Then they will return voluntarily, they said.

Uganda: In Uganda, reduced education funding is causing alarming school dropout rates, with60% of refugee children at Nakivale Camp dropping out in the first trimester of 2024 alone because their parents couldn’t pay their fees. Nakivale houses over 140,000 people.

“Instead of paying over 100,000 Ugandan shillings $26USD for one child’s school fees, I’d rather buy food for the whole family,” said a refugee father who has lived in Nakivale for nine years. He said that having to weigh education against food is a new feature of life in the camp.

Meanwhile, rates of juvenile delinquency, teenage pregnancies, drug and alcohol abuse, and banditry have risen over the past year, since many children stopped going to school, according to sources.

Refugee children in South Kivu province, eastern Congo, are also out of school because of cuts to education funding. Mathieu Nahimana, a refugee, lamented the suspension of educational aid in the Mulongwe and Lusenda Camps: “We have problems with education–our children are no longer studying.”

Aisha Mpawenimana, a single mother, added that even the children of those whose parents can afford school fees also face inadequate schooling, with overcrowded classrooms packing in more than double their capacity of children.

And cuts in fuel aid pose a risk for refugee women and children, who must collect firewood for cooking.

“Previously, UNHCR provided firewood or fuel. Now, women and children face threats when gathering wood in the bush, encountering men who harass, beat, or rape them. Some are kidnapped. We ask UNHCR to care for us because we don’t know what to do,” said Jeannette Niyonkuru, a refugee in Mulongwe Camp. With over 15,000 refugees, Mulongwe also struggles to provide adequate housing and food assistance for new arrivals. To add to their woes, this year’s crops have failed.

“All the crops are nearly dried up. We haven’t had rain since January. All our efforts are in vain; there will be no harvest,” refugees lamented, saying they invested heavily in crops, both financially and in the investment of time.

“The plots we farm aren’t ours. We have to rent them, and we spent a lot on seeds, not to mention the time invested,” lamented a mother of five, who said that all her efforts to cultivate maize have been in vain.

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Kenya: Ration cuts are also impacting life in Kakuma Camp, one of Africa’s largest refugee camps, which is located in Kenya. A recent World Food Programme notice read:

“Due to resource shortages, the World Food Programme (WFP) will suspend cash assistance from May 2024 on. Food rations will also be cut by 40% from May 2024. The distribution of porridge for pregnant and breastfeeding women is also suspended.”

On the morning of April 22, after reading the notice, the refugees could not contain their anger and took to the camp streets to protest.

One activist who participated in the protest asked, “How are we going to live? We will starve to death. Since 2023, we have faced unexplained and sudden reductions. Children will undoubtedly die, and this will only increase domestic violence, banditry, unwanted pregnancies among young girls, and school dropouts.”

“The nutrition programs for pregnant and breastfeeding women suffering from malnutrition, the distribution of porridge to support patients with chronic diseases, hospital feeding programs, and school feeding programs will continue,” states the WFP document.

Members of organizations advocating for refugee rights point to the crises in Ukraine and Gaza for explanations of why aid has been cut to East Africa.

Léopold Sharangabo, representing the Coalition of Burundian Human Rights Defenders living in various refugee camps, said: “The situation of refugees in the Great Lakes region seems to be forgotten. Since the beginning of the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, the focus of UNHCR’s partners has shifted to that region. As a result, we have seen a decrease in aid for refugees here. A year later, conflicts between Israel and Palestine erupted. Currently, refugees in the Great Lakes region are in a precarious situation. In addition to the constant reduction in rations, they now have limited access to healthcare. Transfers to hospitals outside the camp are suspended, leading to daily deaths due to lack of proper medical care. Schools are not functioning well, and some community organizations have shut down. In summary, the situation is critical for these refugees in all areas.”

In Sharangabo’s estimation, the leaders of countries engaged in violent conflicts need to prioritize dialogue instead, and the international community should participate by strongly encouraging stakeholders to engage in political solutions to problems, rather than in endless wars that result in aid cuts.

Malawi: In 2023, the Malawi government issued a directive ordering all refugees and asylum-seekers living in urban and rural areas to return voluntarily to a refugee camp or face enforced relocation, and now the Dzaleka camp, built to house 12,000 people and now hosting over 52,000, is overwhelmed.

According to the U.N., the population at Dzaleka before the directive was issued “already face[d] challenges as health services, water, shelter and sanitation facilities [were] inadequate.” Refugees are asking the government to review this decision in light of its many consequences.

In addition to insufficient rations, the camp is facing insecurity. The authorities and the UNHCR have decided to take drastic measures, including organizing night patrols.

Fear of forced repatriation
In Tanzania, the mood among Burundian refugees is panicked, with people saying they “live in torment.” Their problems include the closure of schools and health facilities, violence in the camps, and the termination of refugee status for Burundians in Tanzania.

Sudi Mwakibasi, the director in charge of refugees in Tanzania, explained that forced repatriation of Burundians will be enacted by the end of 2024.

But some refugees who already have been repatriated to Burundi fled again to the camps after finding that the situation at home is in fact not safe at all, which is opposite from what they were promised.

“I was pursued after being repatriated and went back into exile. We are a hundred here; others have gone to Rwanda, Uganda, or Kenya. Not to mention the repatriates who have been killed or imprisoned, accused of collaborating with rebel groups. So, you want us to return to this climate of distrust on the hills where we come from?” said Burundians who testified anonymously for fear of reprisals.

Sharangabo told Amjambo, “Many refugees cannot return due to ongoing insecurity in Burundi and their status. For example, former military personnel, politicians, activists, and human rights defenders are particularly targeted. The latest campaign is driven by the Burundian government, which leverages close relations with the Tanzanian government.”

Sharangabo said that the pressure to repatriate all Burundians comes from the government of Évariste Ndayishimye: “The motive behind this campaign is to show the international community that peace reigns in Burundi, evidenced by the massive return of refugees. In collaboration with Tanzania, current UNHCR representatives are threatened with expulsion [from Burundi] if they refuse to follow this plan.”

Nestor Bimenyimana, the Director General of Repatriation, Resettlement, and Reintegration of Returnees in Burundi, denied allegations that Burundian authorities are collaborating with their Tanzanian counterparts to force Burundians in Tanzania to return. However, according to a Tanzanian government memo leaked to Amajambo Africa, all Burundian refugees must return to Burundi by the end of October 2024 or face consequences. In January 2024, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced that her country was ready to repatriate all Burundian refugees living on Tanzanian soil.

But many Burundian refugees claim they prefer “to die in exile rather than throw themselves into the fire [of life back home in Burundi].”

Suzane Niyubahwe, a mother living in the Nduta Camp, said, “If there are countries that want to welcome refugees, let them help us. There is no peace in Burundi. The proof is that repatriates keep returning to the camps. How can we say that this country is peaceful? Frankly, we are raising an alarm. We call for the protection of the U.N. in charge of our security. Let the U.N. help us. The U.N. must break the silence because it is our guardian.”

Meanwhile, at the Nduta and Nyarugusu camps, refugees and refugee rights advocates report “severe human rights violations against Burundian refugees.”

In February, all Burundian shops in the Nyarugusu camp were demolished.

“It is security agents in the camp known as Sungusungu, accompanied by Tanzanian police, and sometimes some camp officials, who carry out the demolition of small shops and hair salons. Only areas inhabited by Burundian refugees are targeted. We are worried,” say Burundian refugees.

“When they demolished the markets, they told us to do small commercial activities at home. But now they prevent us from any income-generating activities, no matter how small. We had built small huts for these businesses, but they destroyed everything.”

Léopold Sharangabo supported these testimonies about the markets, and added, “They have even closed schools and health centers to pressure these refugees. Refugees in Tanzanian camps live like prisoners: they are not allowed to engage in income-generating activities, they cannot go out, and all shops and fields have been destroyed. Any minor mistake results in being taken to the Burundian border. Generally, Burundian refugees in Tanzania are treated like prisoners. All this is aimed at forcing them to return.”

Meanwhile, Sudi Mwakibasi stated in front of Burundian refugees and UNHCR representatives in the Nduta and Nyarugusu camps on May 9 and 10, 2024: “You are no longer among those eligible for humanitarian aid. And this $200 repatriation package you receive, I can’t guarantee you’ll get it in July. Register and go back home. Peace prevails in Burundi.”

Norris Mwamba, a Burundian intellectual and refugee, described an unbearable situation. “The Burundian secret services, in collaboration with Tanzanian authorities and secret services, control the refugee camps just like they control the provinces of Burundi, because we live a few kilometers from the border. … We live in constant fear of being arrested or kidnapped. The camps have become open-air prisons.” Mwamba fled Burundi in 2015, following the crisis triggered by the late President Pierre Nkurunziza, who stayed in office for a third term despite term limits.

Most Burundian refugees in the camps in Tanzania believe the Tanzanian police will carry out the threatened expulsion. And some carry scars of incarceration at the hands of Tanzanian police. They fear more violence.

According to Human Rights Watch, between October 2019 and August 2020, Tanzanian police and intelligence services forcibly disappeared, tortured, and arbitrarily detained at least 11 Burundian refugees for several weeks in deplorable conditions at a police station in Kibondo, in the Kigoma region of northwest Tanzania.

“The forced disappearances of Burundian refugees and asylum seekers in Tanzania by Tanzanian authorities are heinous crimes, especially due to the distress and suffering caused to family members, many of whom fled similar abuses in Burundi,” said Mausi Segun, Africa Division Director at Human Rights Watch.

Burundians who have been in prison in Tanzania told Amjambo Africa that Tanzanian police and secret service agents subjected them to electric shocks, rubbed chili on their faces and genitals, and beat and whipped them.

“We screamed as if we were being crucified,” recalled a refugee who had spent 23 days at the Kibondo police station.

And one woman, originally from Kirundo province in northern Burundi, says she last saw her husband on March 12, 2020 when individuals presenting themselves as Tanzanian law enforcement agents abducted him. Her husband had been among the local leaders of a small opposition party in Muyinga province (northeast) before fleeing Burundi in 2015.

“They didn’t ask him any questions; they burst into the room, handcuffed him, and prevented me from calling for help,” she recounted, adding that she reached out to the UNHCR, the local police, and refugee organizations, but to no avail.

“One of the released people confirmed to me that my husband was detained in Kibondo. When I went to ask the police if I could see him, they told me that if I continued to bother them, I would be kidnapped too, along with my entire family,” lamented Anitha, who said her husband was taken “like an animal,” nearly naked. She has not heard from him since his abduction.

“I decided to drop the matter, because I didn’t want my children to become orphans,” she said.

“[I’m told] the Tanzanian authorities fear nothing,” one young father said.

The refugees in Tanzania call on the U.N. to act, saying, “Tomorrow will be too late.”

According to the United Nations, this year’s World Refugee Day theme is solidarity with refugees, which means “doing more to ease the pressure on the host countries, enhance refugee self-reliance, expand access to third-country solutions, and support conditions in countries of origin for voluntary return in safety and dignity.”