Three weeks after violent protests against president's plan for continued stay in office started in Bujumbura, the number of Burundi refugees who have crossed the border into Tanzania has reached 11,000.

The director of refugees in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr Harrison Mseke, said Sunday that so far at least 11,000 refugees have camped at Kigoma’s Nyarugusu B.

Mr Mseke said after the closure of eight camps in Kigoma, only Nyarugusu had remained and holds about 63,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

He said with the ongoing political unrest in Burundi, the camp has received more than 10,000 new refugees within three weeks.

“It’s quite clear why many Burundians end up fleeing to Tanzania: we share with Burundi a border that extends 570km that links our country with five regions of the strife-torn neighbour,” he explained.

Mr Mseke said it will take not less than six months for the government to organise a new refugees camp and that Nyarugusu B was only a stopgap centre.

“I would like to ask all refugees to remain at this area for the time being; we are in the process of establishing a new camp to accommodate them—and this takes time,” he said.

Mr Mseke said it was disturbing that refugees are flowing into Tanzania in such large numbers because of political instability and state of insecurity in their country.

“We closed many camps recently after being assured that Burundi and other neighbouring countries were safe; these camps had existed for almost two decades, but as you can see now, the situation has changed already,” he said.

According to Mr Mseke, the government expects more refugees to cross the border into Kagera Region and that he was planning to visit the region early this week to prepare for the influx. “I will be visiting Kagera next week (this week), the region that shares a border with Burundi… I will visit regional leaders and consult with them on what we can do to receive the refugees,” he said.

Reached for comment, the Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Mathias Chikawe, who is currently out of the country, said the government was prepared to receive refugees from the troubled neighbour.

He said Tanzania adheres to international agreements on displaced people and that it was ready to cooperate with the international community in dealing with the matter.

He noted that the UNHCR will handle their shelter and accommodation while the government of Tanzania will provide land.

“We are prepared to host them but UNHCR will be fully responsible for their shelter, food and other requirements while the Tanzania government will provide land,” he said, adding:

“We don’t have any budget to cater for these people but as a neighbouring country, we have a duty to offer them safe haven,” Mr Chikawe said.

Opposition protest erupted three weeks ago in Bujumbura after President Pierre Nkurunziza was nominated by his party to vie for the presidency in the forthcoming General Election. The protest has continued to rock the country with the death toll from the unrest rising to at least 18.

Talks between the opposition and the government are ongoing, under the watch of the UN and foreign diplomats.

President Nkurunziza’s tenure has been dogged by controversy over the interpretation of the country’s constitution. While some parties say the president has served his maximum two terms, his supporters insist the first five years did not count under the law.

The 2000 Arusha Accord, which ended the protracted Burundi civil war and culminated in Mr Nkurunziza’s rise to power, is categorical that no individual shall be president for more than two terms of five years each.

-The Citizen