Germany provides Tanzania refugees with $4m

Germany has announced new contributions of $4m to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in support of refugees from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

These new contributions will bring the total of German support to $16.7m for the years 2018-2020.

“I am extremely grateful to the German government for continued support and the much needed contribution to the UNHCR operation in Tanzania. The contribution will go a long way in providing lifesaving humanitarian assistance to well over 300,000 refugees mostly from Burundi and DRC, hosted in 3 camps in the Kigoma region,” said UNHCR’s Representative to Tanzania, Chansa Kapaya.

The funds will enable UNHCR to scale up its efforts aimed at meeting minimum standards for 2018-2020 in the critical sectors: education, civil registration and documentation, primary healthcare, sanitation and hygiene, shelter, sexual and gender-based violence response and prevention.

“We are happy and proud to support UNHCR in its invaluable work to meet the needs of refugees from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo hosted in refugee camps in Western Tanzania. At the same time we commend Tanzania for its tremendous effort in receiving and providing shelter for refugees from these two neighboring countries for many years,” said Jörg Herrera, Chargé d’Affaires of Germany in Tanzania.

As of 31 October, Tanzania was hosting approximately 331,000 refugees and other persons of concern, with 87 percent of them living in the three refugee camps in Kigoma region. The majority of the refugees are from Burundi while the rest are from the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Chronic underfunding coupled with the high number of refugees in the camps and dependence on humanitarian assistance are hampering efforts to meet their growing needs.