GENEVE, 16 April 2010: UN High Commissioner for Refugee António Guterres has lauded Tanzania’s landmark decision to grant citizenship to tens of thousands of Burundian refugees who fled to Tanzania in 1972.
During a visit by Guterres on Thursday to the Katumba ward in the south-west of the country, Tanzania’s Home Affairs Minister Lawrence Masha told a gathering of so-called “1972 Burundian refugees” that the government had completed a naturalization exercise which began in 2008 and granted citizenship to 162.000 refugees. A further 53.600 of the 1972 Burundians opted to repatriate in 2008 and 2009 with help from UNHCR.
Katumba was one of the three so-called “old settlements” inhabited by the 1972 Burundians. Similar notifications were simultaneously released in the two other settlements of Mishamo and Ulyankulu by senior Tanzanian immigration officials. The naturalized Burundians will now live among the general population.
Guterres praised the Tanzanian government for its “unprecedented generosity and courageous decision” to finding lasting solutions for these Burundian refugees. This is the first time that any state has naturalized such a large group of refugees under the protection of UNHCR in a single move.
Festo Crispin, a representative for the refugees, thanked the government and pledged “that we shall be exemplary citizens,” while adding that “we will continue to need your guidance and support until we are able to stand on our own”.
The High Commissioner called on the international community to recognize Tanzania’s generous gesture and appealed to donors to respond positively to ensure that the process of integrating its new nationals is successful. He urged other countries with long-standing refugee populations to follow Tanzania’s example.
