Burundi is campaigning for the return of its refugees from Ugandan camps. The government is afraid that opposition groups may be forming while in exile. But Burundi’s refugees are not about to return voluntarily.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/E. Kagire
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In 2016, Uganda took in more African refugees than the whole of Europe. This generosity has earned Kampala the praise of the West but African countries are more skeptical. They fear that the camps may offer an ideal stage for the formation of opposition groups. Many Burundians fled the country in 2015 after a failed coup led to increased violence.
Burundi has been especially vocal in demanding the return of refugees like Eduard Nshinirimana. Whenever the Burundian student feels tense, he strums his guitar. It is his only possession besides two wooden stools and an old carpet in the living room of his mud house in the refugee settlement of Navikale in western Uganda.
A couple of days ago, a high-ranking Burundian delegation visited the Ugandan camp. This brought up memories Nshinirimana would rather forget.
Safe haven
Nshinirimana told DW that he had to flee his country in 2015 after he came home from school to find his family murdered.
"The house was burned, my father and mother were killed, even two brothers and one sister. I was hopeless. Immediately I found other people who decided to go to Uganda," he said.
The security situation in Burundi is still far from safeImage: Getty Images/S. Platt
The young man feels safe in Uganda. At least he used to. The visit by the Burundian delegation caused agitation among the refugees who demonstrated against forced repatriation. The visit was part of an aggressive campaign by Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza's government to encourage more than 350,000 refugees in neighboring countries to return home.
According to Burundian officials, the country is peaceful now and everybody is needed to help rebuild it.
No forced repatriation
Many analysts suspect that the real reason for the pressure being put on refugees is that the government is afraid that political opposition could be gaining strength in the camps, far away from the prying eyes of President Nkurunziza's government.
For now, at least, Eduard Nshinirimana absolutely refuses to go home.
"I know some people who went back to Burundi. I knew them from here in the camp. Immediately upon reaching the Burundian border, they were taken to prison," he said. They have not been seen since, he added.
Refugees: A new existence in Uganda
Anyone who flees to Uganda from one of the neighboring countries can build a house there, get a job and even own a piece of land – a result of economic and political considerations by the Ugandan authorities.
Image: DW/S. Schlindwein
Liberal refugee policy
Uganda has one of the world's most liberal refugee policies. About half a million people from war-torn countries within the region are looking for shelter here. They come from eastern Congo, South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Burundi. Up to 100 people arrive at the huge refugee camps in southwest Uganda every day.
Image: DW/S. Schlindwein
From Burundi via Rwanda to Uganda
Currently, refugees mostly from Burundi are urgently looking for shelter in Uganda. In July 2015, Burundian Pierre Karimumujango fled to Rwanda with his wife and three children. "We lived in congested camps. It is hard to settle down there," he says. It is from there that they continued their journey to Uganda by bus.
Image: DW/S. Schlindwein
Owning their own piece of land
"We had nothing when we arrived - apart from the clothes we were wearing," Karimumujango said. He was given kitchen utensils, water canisters, tents and groceries by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). The Ugandan government allocated a piece of land to each family on which they could build a house and cultivate foodstuffs. The Burundian farmer planted cassava.
Image: DW/S. Schlindwein
Help from the outside
The newcomers are given second-hand clothing, often donations from Europe. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees and several international non-governmental organizations help in providing for the refugees. Uganda is a poor country itself. Without support it would be utterly swamped by the asylum surge.
Image: DW/S. Schlindwein
A city just for refugees
The Nakivale camp in the southwest of Uganda is the biggest in the country. More than 100,000 refugees live in an area of 180 square kilometres (69 square miles) - Nakivale is like a city. The land in the dry, almost uninhabited savanna belongs to the government which distributes it to the refugees. They burn clay to make bricks to build their own houses.
Image: DW/S. Schlindwein
A new life among compatriots
In Nakivale the refugees live in "districts," according to their country of origin. Since the outbreak of the Burundian crisis in the past year, 22,000 Burundians fled to Uganda. In Nakivale they established "Little Bujumbura," named after the capital of their country. A lot of them come with all their belongings and savings in order to start a new life.
Image: DW/S. Schlindwein
A new employment market is created
The center of Nakivale is like a small town: Here you find carpenters, workshops, tailors, hairdressers, shops and pharmacies. A lot of refugees try to pick up and carry on with the professions they formerly had in their home countries. Some of them bring goods and tools with them and create new jobs.
Image: DW/S. Schlindwein
Refugees as an economic factor
A Burundian miller brought his flour mill to Uganda. 16-year old Michel Tweramehezu from Burundi is happy to have found a job in the camp. "There is not much to do here," he says. The Ugandan government sees the refugees as an economic asset, a work permit is not required. All they need to do is take part in economic activity.
Image: DW/S. Schlindwein
East African superpower politics
Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni likes to present himself as the grandfather of the region and pursues a brand of superpower politics in which refugees play a major role. Opposition activists and rebels from neighboring countries are among those fleeing to Uganda which is well aware of the political dimensions attached to its refugee policy.
Image: DW/S. Schlindwein
Sports against hatred
Within the camps, the regional conflicts continue: Rwandan Hutus and Tutsis in Nakivale still live in different districts. Frictions often occur, that´s when the camp police have to intervene and mediate. Sport is a good way to reconcile the parties. Breakdance competitions, a youth center and a radio station can help reduce the potential for violence.
Image: DW/S. Schlindwein
Shortage of nearly everything
Olive Nyirandambyza fled from her village in eastern Congo in 2007. Five of the 38-year-old's seven children were born in Nakivale. She receives 50 kilograms (110 lbs) of corn monthly from the United Nations World Food Programme. "It´s often not enough, so my husband has to go to the city to work for the Ugandans," she says. She lacks soap, sanitary products and medicine.
Image: DW/S. Schlindwein
Only basic schooling in the camps
The majority of the inhabitants of Nakivale are children of school age. There are six state-run elementary schools in the camp which are free of charge. There are no more advanced schools, secondary students have to walk long distances to the next village. The school there is a private one and most of the refugee families cannot afford the fees.
Image: DW/S. Schlindwein
Cattle as source of capital
Some refugees - for example Banyamulenge from eastern Congo or Tutsi from Rwanda or Burundi - bring their cattle herds with them to the camp. In Uganda´s fertile grassland around Nakivale they find enough to eat. For many families the cattle herds act as living bank accounts. To pay school fees, cows are sold at the cattle market in Nakivale.
Image: DW/S. Schlindwein
Home is gone for ever
Ndahayo Ruwogwa believes that he will die in Uganda. The 69- year-old lost his right arm during the war in his home country of eastern Congo. He has been living in Nakivale for the last 13 years with his family of 13. "At least it's peaceful here in Uganda. We got a chance for a new life," he says. "My home country is still at war. We will probably never be able to go back there."
Image: DW/S. Schlindwein
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Previously, the Ugandan Minister of Relief and Disaster Preparedness Hillary Onek showed some sympathy for Burundi's demand that the refugees go home. Uganda is an important mediator in Burundi's peace process which has reached an impasse and openly contradicting Nkurunziza's government would not help. But this is causing uncertainty among Burundian refugees and has led the Ugandan government to clarify that it will stand by international law and that, at this point, no refugee will be repatriated against his or her will.
A piece of land
The deputy head of the refugee camp of Navikale, Benyendera Esau, goes a step further, stating that even though the camp with its more than 100,000 inhabitants is starting to run out of space, refugees will continue to be welcome. And they will even be given their own piece of land.
"As long as land continues to be scarce, the size may have to be reduced. But the idea is to enable a family to make sure that they can live more or less the way they were living in their home countries or at least the way the host communities here are living," he said.
Dismas Nkunda, chief executive officer of the NGO Atrocities Watch Africa, welcomed the official promise not to force refugees to go back as Burundi is far from being safe yet, he told DW.
"Killings, torture rape are still happening on a daily basis in Burundi. So people have a right to flee," Nkunda said, adding that refugees will know when peace returns to their country. "Nobody wants to live outside their home country," he said.
Eduard Nshinirimana would like to go home. But he will not return as long as President Nkurunziza is in power, he said. The president's people were responsible for the death of most of his family and he said he could never live peacefully under their regime.
