NEW ISSUES IN REFUGEE RESEARCH Working Paper No. 53 Changing priorities in refugee protection: the Rwandan repatriation from Tanzania Beth Elise Whitaker Department of Political Science George Washington University Washington, DC USA E-mail:
[email protected] February 2002 These working papers are issued by the Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit, and provide a means for UNHCR staff, consultants, interns and associates to publish the preliminary results of their research on refugee-related issues. The papers are written in a personal capacity and do not represent the official views of UNHCR. They are also available online under ‘Publications’ on the UNHCR website, http://www.unhcr.org ISSN 1020-7473 Introduction On December 5, 1996, the Tanzanian government and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) issued a joint statement that read, in part, “all Rwandese refugees in Tanzania are expected to return home by 31 December 1996.”1 That same day, UNHCR distributed information sheets to refugees about the repatriation exercise, including the immediate suspension of economic and agricultural activities in the camps. The camps had been home to more than half a million Rwandan refugees since 1994, when they fled civil war and an advancing rebel army at home. They were eventually joined in Tanzania by nearly 500,000 refugees from Burundi and Zaire.2 As a haven of peace in a troubled region, Tanzania had long hosted refugees from neighboring countries. By December 1996, however, patience seemed to have run out. 3 Upon receiving the repatriation announcement, many refugees wanted extra time to see how the integration of returnees from Zaire would unfold within Rwanda.4 Several wrote a letter to Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa requesting him to reconsider the December 31 deadline.