The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says it welcomes theTanzanian government's decision Tuesday to grant citizenship tothousands of Burundian refugees. The UNHCR says this action will helpto resolve one of the world's most enduring refugee problems.
Some162,000 Burundians, who have been living as refugees in Tanzaniansettlements for more than three decades, accepted the government's offerto apply for citizenship.
U.N. refugee spokesman, AndrejMahecic, says the government of Tanzania granted citizenship August 4to a first group of 3,568 Burundian refugees.
"The decisionmarks a major milestone in a program that will bring to a close one ofthe world's most protracted refugee situations," he said. "It alsorepresents the first time that any country in Africa has naturalizedrefugees on such a scale."
In 1972, some 218,000 Burundiansfled to Tanzania to escape violence in their country. Early last year,the Tanzanian government gave these refugees a choice to either returnhome or to apply for Tanzanian citizenship.
Mahecic says theUNHCR saw this as an opportunity not to be missed. He says the UNHCRadvocated on behalf of the refugees with the governments of Tanzaniaand Burundi and offered to provide tangible assistance both to thosewho decided to return home and to those who opted to stay in Tanzania.
"So,some 162,000 of the original case load decided to stay and applied fornaturalization," said Mahecic. "The final breakthrough basically cameon Tuesday when the Tanzanian Minister of Home Affairs grantedcitizenship to the first group of applicants."
"Out of 3,570individuals, only two were rejected. At the same time, the Tanzaniangovernment reaffirmed its commitment to finalize the processing of theremaining population before the end of the year," he added.
Inthe meantime, Mahecic says the UNHCR has helped to return 45,000Burundian refugees who decided they wanted to go back to the homes theyfled decades ago. He says the agency will assist another nine thousandrefugees to return in the coming months.