Tanzania Shuts Nduta Refugee Camp, Forcibly Repatriating Thousands of Burundians
Tanzania has closed the Nduta refugee camp in its northwestern region, effectively ending the presence of one of the largest refugee communities in East Africa. According to human rights organizations and the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), approximately 3,000 remaining refugees were forcibly loaded onto vehicles and transported back to Burundi on Thursday, leaving only a handful of families on site awaiting transfer to the Nyarugusu camp, which is also scheduled to close on June 30.
The Coalition for Human Rights/Living in Refugee Camps (CDH/VICAR), a local NGO monitoring conditions in Tanzania’s camps, said refugees at Nduta had been subjected to increasingly coercive measures for months before the final closure. These included restrictions on movement, pressure to register for repatriation, the withholding of humanitarian assistance from those who refused to return, and the gradual demolition of shelters in the camp.
Night-time violence, intimidation, arrests and enforced disappearances had all been reported in the run-up to the closure, the organization said in a statement. The NGO accused the Tanzanian government of orchestrating a sudden surge in departures in the final days, culminating in the complete shuttering of the camp. Refugees who had resisted repatriation described being given no choice but to board vehicles bound for the border.
The UNHCR, meanwhile, confirmed that the camp had been closed under an agreement with the governments of Tanzania and Burundi for the voluntary repatriation of Burundian refugees. The agency said it had consistently raised concerns with the authorities whenever reports of pressure or abuse emerged, reiterating clearly that all refugee returns must be voluntary, safe and dignified. An official, speaking anonymously, confirmed the repatriations had taken place but declined to comment on the allegations of coercion.
The rights group CDH/VICAR was particularly pointed in its criticism of the UNHCR, accusing the UN agency of facilitating the Tanzanian government’s operations rather than fulfilling its core mandate to protect refugees. The approximately 3,000 refugees who remained in the camp were forcibly loaded onto vehicles to be sent back to Burundi on Thursday, the NGO said, adding that only around 10 families remained, awaiting transfer to Nyarugusu.
Burundi’s refugee crisis has deep roots. Thousands of Burundians fled their country during years of civil war, political repression, and entrenched poverty in the Great Lakes region. As of late 2025, approximately 142,000 Burundian refugees remained in Tanzania, housed primarily in the Nduta and Nyarugusu camps. The repatriation agreement between Dar es Salaam and Bujumbura aims to return some 100,000 of them by June, a timeline rights groups say is dangerously accelerated.
Those returned to Burundi face an uncertain future. The country has experienced bouts of political violence in recent years, including post-election bloodshed in 2025 that claimed over 500 lives according to a government enquiry. Regional tensions between Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda remain acute, according to UN monitors, raising concerns about the safety of returning refugees.
For now, the focus turns to the remaining Nyarugusu camp, where 198 families have already been transferred following what the Tanzanian government called a selection process that rights groups say was widely contested. With a June 30 closure deadline for Nyarugusu also now confirmed, the fate of tens of thousands of Burundian refugees in Tanzania hangs in the balance.
