16/6/2006
Louis Michel in Tanzania and Burundi

Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, and António Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, visited Tanzania and Burundi last week to discuss humanitarian topics, in particular the issue of refugees.

They met the Presidents of  both countries, government ministers and people living in refugee camps and transit centres. Tanzania shelters around 350,000 refugees, who depend almost entirely on humanitarian aid.

117 00 people remain internally displaced in Burundi, a country which the UNHCR estimates also hosts 30,000 Congolese refugees. In 2005, 60,000 Burundian and 5 000 Congolese refugees left Tanzania and returned home as the situation in their countries improved. 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." Living conditions remain difficult after a decade of war and displacement.

The EU’s €17 million humanitarian global plan for Burundi for 2006 involves immediate actions and community-based interventions targeting the most affected groups, as well as assisting the reintegration of people returning from forced displacement.

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 main focal areas are healthcare, nutrition and sanitation.