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Tanzania receive 130,000 Burundian refugees since April

Xinhua, February 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

Tanzania has received nearly 130,000 refugees from the neighboring Burundi between April last year and February 10, this year.

Ministry of Home Affairs' spokesperson, Isaac Nantanga, said on Tuesday that the influx of refugees started last year, when the first civil war emerged in the war-torn east African nation.

The official explained that out of the 129,210 refugees, 79,290 were accommodated at Nyarugusu camp in Kigoma Region and the rest (45,487) are camped at Nduta in Kibondo.

In Nyarugusu camp, there are 61, 887 refugees from Congo DRC, 150 from Somalia, and 189 refugees from other nations.

He added that 4,543 refugees are camped at Mtendeli in Kakondo District, Kigoma Region.

"Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other stakeholders are on the front line to provide services to the refugees that includes food, water and security to ensure that they are safe," he said.

Nantanga said apart from the refugees who started coming in since April, Tanzania had accommodated other refugees at the Nyarugusu camp.

According to Nantanga, currently Tanzania has a total of 191,436 refugees in different camps.

On December 5 last year, Germany announced it had suspended millions of dollars in financial support to Burundi and instead the money would be dedicated to refugees who are in Tanzania's camps.

Burundi has been in turmoil since President Pierre Nkurunziza announced plans in April 2015 to run for a third term, which he went on to win despite protests from the opposition. Enditem