Kara Weinacht
11/3/2009
4:00 PM
This article finally brought about some good news dealing with refugees. The article explains that Tanzania has been hosting Burundian refugees since they escaped their home country in 1972. Later in the 1990s, more Burundians escaped to Tanzania. Luckily, Tanzania's government has worked with this group of people, planning to naturalize 162,000 of them as Tanzanian citizens. As Burundi has moved towards a state of peace, more of the refugees have returned home-over half a million total, and 430,000 from the Tanzanian camps. In Burundi, the UNHCR is assisting with the reclaiming of property, and providing temporary housing while they work everythign out.
This article, initially harbored much hope for me, however, even though this is good news, I remain disappointed because this article doesn't provide that much detail on how this is being funded, the process involved- things that are important because this migration back home would be good for a lot of other refugees in the world too. I can see reasons why this group of people were prioritzed to be helped- 1. they've been waiting a LONG time. 2. there are over half a million of them. 3. their country of origin has regained or at least almost regained peace. I feel like the funding is the easy part, dealing with coutries of origin is the hard part. I am glad to see, though, that they are trying to work out property rights in Burundi- that is a huge stepping stone! Especially if women can get property rights...because property ownership translates to credit which can easliy be translated to capital as well. This situation, overall, puts a smile on my face, even though the article was bad.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200910300890.html
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