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DAR ES SALAAM. — The United Nations refugees agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday 37,000 Burundian refugees have voluntarily been repatriated from Tanzania between January and September this year.

UNHCR said in a statement that the 37,000 repatriated Burundian refugees bring to 48,930 the total number of refugees repatriated from Tanzania since September 2017.

The statement said 2,000 refugees were to be repatriated every week between April 5 and Dec. 31, 2018.

“Many of them returned to Muyinga, Ruyigi, Cankuzo, Makamba and Rutana provinces,” said the statement.

UNHCR said in the statement that 70 percent of the returnees had only one meal per day.

The statement added that 33 percent of the returnees found their land temporarily occupied by other people including family members while 79 percent of primary school children were not schooling.

The statement also said 72 percent of the returnees did not have birth certificates and 73 percent of them did not have national identity cards while 29 percent were without access to the health system due to financial problems.

Tanzania is the largest host of Burundian refugees in the region with over 312,000 refugees and asylum-seekers (figures as at end of April), including more than 250,000 Burundian refugees received since the outbreak of violence in Bujumbura in 2015. – Xinhua