VOA’s BMJ Murithi and Frederic Nkundikije contributed to this report.A deal to begin repatriating almost 200,000 Burundi refugees from Tanzania beginning in October has sparked anxiety among the displaced, with individuals considering an appeal to the United Nations and at least one civil society group weighing a lawsuit over any forced return. “It is clear that the Tanzanian government, in collaboration with the Burundian government, wants to bring us back home by force,” Renovat Nduwayo, a refugee at Nduta camp in western Tanzania, said of the repatriation pact between the two countries.Tanzanian Interior Minister Kangi Lugola and his Burundi counterpart, Pascal Barandagiye, signed the agreement announced Sunday. As of October, it would return Burundi refugees at the rate of 2,000 a week from several camps in western Tanzania. FILE – Burundian refugee children pose for a photograph at the Lake Tanganyika stadium in Kigoma western Tanzania, May 19, 2015.The latest figures from the Refugees from Burundi who fled the ongoing violence and political tension prepare meals at the Nyarugusu refugee camp in western Tanzania, May 28, 2015.If Tanzania’s government forces Burundi refugees to leave, Nduwayo said he and others would ask the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to relocate them to other East African countries, such as Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya. The UNHCR has not issued any public statements about the Burundi-Tanzania deal.Meanwhile, the Alliance of Burundi Lawyers for Victims of Human Rights Violations (CAVIB) is considering legal action. Cyriaque Nibitegeka, a spokesperson, said members are “contemplating suing the Tanzanian government at international courts, specifically in the region.” Nibitegeka urged rights organizations “across the globe to work together in order to see to it that those Burundian refugees are not forcibly repatriated and are not constantly subjected to human rights violation and rape.” Burundi authorities have suspended both VOA and the BBC from operating in the country, and also have forbidden journalists from contributing to the news organizations.
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