A group of 115 Burundian refugees returned to Burundi this week through the Nemba One-Stop Border Post linking Rwanda and Burundi, Rwanda’s state broadcaster reported. The group included 107 people from Mahama refugee camp in Kirehe District and eight others who had been living in Kigali, according to the broadcaster.
Most of the returnees had lived in Rwanda for nearly a decade after fleeing political unrest in Burundi in 2015.
Their return comes amid a continued slowdown in organized repatriation. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has reported a sharp decline in the number of Burundian refugees seeking to go back, citing concerns about reintegration conditions and allegations of insecurity in parts of Burundi. UNHCR recorded that only 178 Burundian refugees in Rwanda expressed interest in returning in 2024, a steep drop from previous years. Of those, 125 were assisted through organised operations, while 53 returned on their own.
UNHCR also reported that there were no organised returns recorded in early 2024, marking one of the lowest periods of repatriation since the voluntary program began in 2020.
According to regional UNHCR data, more than 30,700 Burundian refugees have returned home from Rwanda since August 2020 under the agency’s voluntary repatriation programme.
Rwanda currently hosts about 50,000 Burundian refugees, the majority living in Mahama camp, according to the same outlet.
The latest return of 115 people marks one of the larger movements in recent months, though it remains far below the numbers seen earlier in the repatriation programme. Authorities in both countries have not publicly commented on whether more organized returns are expected in the coming weeks.
