Sumario: EU Commissioner Michel and UNHCR High Commissioner Guterres to meet refugees in Tanzania and Burundi (Nairobi/Brussels: 14 June 2006)
Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, and António Guterres, United Nations' High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), are visiting Tanzania and Burundi from 13 to 16 June to discuss humanitarian topics, in particular the issue of refugees. They will meet the Presidents of both countries, government ministers and people living in refugee camps and transit centres. Tanzania shelters around 350,000 refugees - the largest number in Africa. 117 00 people remain internally displaced in Burundi, a country which the UNHCR estimates also hosts 30,000 Congolese refugees. The joint mission of Mr Michel and Mr Guterres is part of a strong partnership between the Commission and UNHCR to assist and protect refugees. Louis Michel's visit to Tanzania and Burundi follows his official visit to Kenya, where he met President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and President Abdullahi Yusuf of Somalia to discuss developments in Somalia and regional drought management..
Louis Michel said: "The situation of people displaced for several years may not hit the headlines of the international media. But the high numbers of refugees and their voluntary repatriation is an important and challenging issue in Tanzania and Burundi. In the last two years alone, the European Commission has provided humanitarian aid worth €59 million to the most vulnerable people, mainly refugees, displaced people, returnees and host communities in Tanzania and Burundi."
The Commission is a key donor to UNHCR, which has a mandate from the Tanzanian government to run refugee camps. Commission funding for UNHCR, UNICEF, and the Red Cross, supports overall care of the refugees and helps those who wish to return home. It includes basic healthcare, food, emergency relief items and protection.
Tanzania
In 2005, 60,000 Burundian and 5 000 Congolese refugees left Tanzania and returned home as the situation in their countries improved. The 350 000 refugees who remain in Tanzania depend almost entirely on humanitarian aid for their survival. The objective of the Commission's €11.5 million global humanitarian aid plan for 2006 is to continue meeting their essential needs and to support their repatriation.
Burundi
Around 180,000 refugees have returned home to Burundi in the last three years, although 200,000 are still being supported in Tanzania. Whilst the peace process and the political transition in Burundi have progressed over the last year, living conditions remain difficult after a decade of war and displacement. Internally displaced people live in 160 sites dotted around the countryside. The Commission's €17 million humanitarian global plan for Burundi for 2006 involves immediate life-saving actions and community-based interventions targeting the most affected groups, as well as assisting the reintegration of people returning from forced displacement. The main focal areas are healthcare, nutrition and sanitation.
The Commission has a support office in Tanzania's capital, Dar Es Salaam, and in Burundi's capital, Bujumbura. The offices provide technical assistance to our partners and support the implementation of relief projects.
Strategic partnership with UNHCR
To assist and protect the estimated 19 million people uprooted in the world today, the European Commission and the UNHCR signed a strategic partnership agreement in February 2005. The Commission's Humanitarian Aid department has worked closely with UNHCR since 2002, and funded UNHCR activities worth €134 million between 2003 and 2005. The money is either for concrete operations, like the running of a refugee camp, or for special themes, such as a €5 million donation from the Commission to
protecting refugees and an emergency response mechanism. This year alone the Commission has already funded UNHCR activities with €17 million.
For further information:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/echo/index_en.htm
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