For Burundi refugees, a shift to long-term temporary status

As political violence has increased following Burundi’s presidential vote late last month, at least a thousand people continue to flee the country each week — necessitating the continuation of emergency response that has gone on for months. With few of the refugees prepared to return imminently, aid agencies are attempting to implement long-term assistance strategies for the displaced Burundians. And they are doing it all amid a significant funding shortfall. Though it is just over three months old, the Mahama refugee camp is already in its second phase of development. When the camp in southeastern Rwanda first opened in late April to house newly arrived Burundian refugees, aid agencies were still scrambling to clear scrub from the rolling hills overlooking Tanzania, stake tents and set up rudimentary medical facilities. The American Refugee Committee is one such agency. The organization is in charge of setting up and running the camp and its business extension agent, Dan Kabyetsiza, was seconded from another post in Rwanda to help receive and integrate new arrivals. In the hectic early days of the settlement, as many as 1,500 refugees could arrive daily. Initially, some had to spend a few nights sleeping in the open air. That changed quickly. By early July, the number of people living in the camp had ballooned to 29,000, but the pace of new arrivals had slowed. Aid agencies had managed to clear the fields and erect rows of white tents. A medical facility, offering outpatient and inpatient services and maternal health care had gone up near the camp’s entrance and food distribution was running smoothly. But there was no slackening of the pace of work around the settlement. Instead, ARC and other partners were beginning a pivot to long-term development in case the camp is needed not just for several months, but several years. Construction had started on a school and they were beginning to build permanent structures on land newly handed over by the Rwandan government. “Most of the refugees are saying they can’t go back,” Kabyetsiza told Devex. “So we’re seeing that we need a permanent settlement for a longer period than we expected.” Burundi’s continued deterioration over the past weeks has justified their preparation. Still very much an emergency response The political crisis began in April, when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he was standing for a third term, which many maintained violated constitutional limits. The constitutional court cleared Nkurunziza to run after ruling his first term — a parliamentary appointment — did not count toward the limit. But political protests had already started in the capital, Bujumbura, and refugees began streaming out of the country. Despite a failed coup attempt, international pressure to step aside and a deepening humanitarian crisis, the president easily won the July 21 vote — aided by a boycott by all major opposition parties. The election has done little to stem the violence. In early August, one of Nkurunziza’s key security officials was shot and killed by men reportedly armed with rocket launchers. A few days later, a top human rights advocate was targeted, but survived an assassination attempt. And as gunfire continues to disrupt most nights in the capital, Bujumbura, people are still fleeing the country. The World Food Program reports at least 180,000 Burundians have crossed into neighboring countries. Mahama alone now houses over 30,000 people, according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, and many thousands more are waiting at transit sites. And those numbers are almost certain to increase. “One of the things that we all know, who’ve been in this line of work a long time, is that Burundi does have a tragic history of conflict and political instability and ethnic violence,” said Jeff Drumtra, an external relations officer with UNHCR who was working in Mahama. “Burundians have learned the hard way that when danger threatens, you run. And they have demonstrated in the past they can flee in massive numbers.” But even as aid agencies greet the new influx, they acknowledge this is still very much an emergency response as they continue to grapple with challenges posed by the initial arrivals. One of the chief concerns is getting basic water delivery and sanitation services set up in the refugee camps. A cholera outbreak among some Burundian refugees in Tanzania has already shown what can happen when there are too many refugees creating too many demands on the available resources. The outbreak started in May among people crowding into informal settlements along the shore of Lake Tangyanika. More than 3,500 people were infected and 18 died, according to UNHCR, though no new cases have been reported for more than two months. To prevent another outbreak, Médecins Sans Frontières, the emergency medical response group, recently completed a vaccination campaign in one Tanzanian camp, but warned sanitation control measures were still critical to prevent other diseases from spreading. Mahama has avoided an outbreak, though Drumtra said there are still difficulties in getting the recommended amount of water to all of the refugees. The team has had difficulties setting up boreholes in the new site — not because they do not have the skills but because the area simply may not hold enough water. Instead, they are relying on expensive water tankers to supplement what they are able to get from ground. Permanent refugee status Still, it will take more than the possibility of an outbreak or water shortages to get many of the refugees in Mahama to consider leaving — especially following Nkurunziza’s victory. One of these refugees, Christine Nduwayo, is openly dissatisfied with the situation in Mahama. The 40-year-old mother said the food rations are not enough and her three children are constantly hungry. They arrived without a change of clothes and they don’t have enough blankets to ward off the cold nights. But Mahama is still her best option. Nduwayo’s husband was killed during one of the early political demonstrations. “I don’t know if he was targeted, because he wasn’t even in politics. He was a truck driver,” she told Devex. Without her husband’s salary, Nduwayo said, she had no way to support her children. As soon as he was buried, they fled to Rwanda. She now plans to apply for permanent refugee status in Rwanda and is hoping to move out of a tent and into a more permanent structure, where she can then start a small garden to supplement her family’s rations. But even the limited food supply is more than what she would be able to access back in Burundi — especially if the political violence continues, as it appears set to do. For months, humanitarian agencies have recognized that neither political refugees fleeing the Nkurunziza regime nor economic refugees — like Nduwayo — will be leaving the camps anytime soon. So in Mahama, even as work continued to improve basic services, ARC also started constructing more substantive structures so long-term residents would not have to live indefinitely in tents. The expansion will push capacity from nearly 30,000 people to as many as 45,000, Drumtra said. The move will have other benefits as well. “The strategy is, if we can move these people out of these tents into semi-permanent mud shelters, it will free up this space and these tents for new arrivals,” Drumtra said. Plan International has found itself in the same position at Nyarugusu refugee camp in western Tanzania, trying to strike a balance between long-term operations and an ongoing emergency response. Demmelash Adera, the emergency response manager for the children’s development organization, said the nonprofit is simultaneously addressing water and sanitation issues for young people, while trying to set up child-friendly spaces and preschools. This is especially critical, he said, because the majority of the people in the camp are under 18 and risk having their education significantly delayed or interrupted. “The need is so great,” he said. “And it’s so important to engage these [children] in educational services. The challenge is the availability of funds to do it.” So far Plan has registered nearly 1,700 children for preschool, but will only be able to place around one-third in classes, at least until more money becomes available to set up new facilities. But there’s simply not enough money for all the work that needs to be done. At the end of July, the European Union released 4.5 million euros ($4.9 million) in assistance to Burundian refugees. But it will be nowhere near enough. WFP has announced a $62 million shortfall to support ongoing operations that help Burundian refugees. Demmelash said one of the biggest problems is the uncertainty that surrounds the Burundi crisis — how much longer it will last and how much bigger it will get. If the current flow of refugees increases again, for instance, it may necessitate new camps. That leaves agencies wondering if they should invest now in setting up services “or should we wait until they go to a new camp and more services will be required there?” They do not want to be seen as overinflating the need, but at the same time they do not want to underestimate and be left short-handed. “We are working in terms of real uncertainty,” he said. “It’s like working in the dark.” Check out more insights and analysis for global development leaders like you, and sign up as an Executive Member to receive the information you need for your organization to thrive.