AS the world marks the Refugee Day today, the United Kingdom has announced an additional 15 million pounds (47.158bn/-) in humanitarian aid to help the ever-increasing displaced Burundians in Tanzania.
The support brings the total UK assistance to the current refugee influx to £29.25 million (90bn/-) since June 2015.
This follows a previously provided
£14.25 million for food, medical care and clean water to help the
growing number of Burundians who have fled their country since April
2015 to seek refuge in Tanzania.
The additional funds will help provide
food, water, social services and education for the refugees as well as
providing more support to the Tanzanian communities that are hosting
them.
In a latest count, the number of
Burundian refugees in Tanzania has now reached 143,000, which is over
half of the 267,000 Burundian refugees in the region, with up to 100
continuing to arrive daily.
“Today we mark the World Refugee Day and
Tanzania continues to be an example to the world in opening its doors
to those who are fleeing persecution ... the international community
must play its part as well,’’ noted a media communiqué issued by the
United Kingdom’s Department of International Development, which added:
‘’That is why the UK is today providing an additional £15m to help
ensure that these refugees, especially women and children, are given the
security, dignity and basic services, such as food and water, that are
essential for their lives”.
It went on to add that the world must
also recognise that “the Tanzanian communities that are so kindly
hosting these refugees. That is why some of this new funding will also
support them.”
The new funding by the UK aid agency
seeks to provide an additional £5 million to the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to help provide health care, social
services and education for refugees and address some of the
environmental pressures that the camps are exerting on local
communities.
It also provides £4 million to the World
Food Programme (WFP) to help provide essential food supplies to the
refugees; £1.5 million to OXFAM to improve water and sanitation and
support host communities and £2.5 for contingency funding in the event
of a rapid change in circumstances.
Up to £2m will be pumped to the Danish
Refugee Council (DRC) to enable it to support the management of refugee
camps and to build classrooms for some of the 80,000 Burundian children
now living in the camps.
The Head of UK International Development
in Tanzania, Vel Gnanendran, said “ensuring that the basic needs of
these refugees continue to be met is therefore critical. So too is
supporting the Tanzanian host communities so that they are able to see
benefits from the camps”.
Total UK support across the Region for
the Burundian Refugee Crisis is now £36.15 million ($ 50 million).
Burundi was plunged into a political crisis when President Pierre
Nkurunziza decided to run for a third term
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