Paradise:
United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)
Interviewed in Dar es Salaam yesterday, refugees from Somalia,
Ethiopia, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and even Syria said
they had gone for days without meals while some of them were facing
eviction from their rented abodes due to not receiving upkeep allowances
from UNHCR for the past two consecutive months.
“The last time we received our allowances was in December last
year…since then we have been surviving by literally begging people who
are sympathetic to our plight,” said Hussein Abdisalam, a refugee from
Somalia, on behalf of his colleagues.
“Because of our status, we are not allowed to be employed, which
means we cannot work and earn money legally. This makes us completely
dependent on support from the UN and our host country,” Abdisalam added.
The most affected group, he said, were refugee mothers and children
who “have to beg for money in the streets since there is no other
option.”
The complaining refugees are those living outside designated camps
in various parts of the country, particularly in Kigoma, Katavi and
Rukwa regions. According to UNHCR, the total number of registered
refugees and asylum seekers in the country numbered 230,682 as of
February 8 this year, most of them living in camps. There are 196 in Dar
es Salaam region alone.
Contacted for comment, UNHCR Tanzania country representative Joyce
Mends-Cole acknowledged the refugees’ plight, but said the organization
did not have readily available funds of its own to disburse the upkeep
allowances.
UNHCR relies on voluntary contributions “and therefore has little
ability to predict the funding which will be received,” Mends-Cole said.
According to Abdisalam, the previous UNHCR upkeep allowance of
300,000/- a month for each registered refugee was slashed to 200,000/-
in 2013 without the refugees being notified in advance.
“The bad news is that 200,000/- a month is not enough to live on
for someone who has no other means of income. But the worst news is that
we have not received even that little amount for two months now, and we
don’t know when and if we will,” he asserted, calling for government
intervention in favour of the refugees.
To this, Mends-Cole responded: “UNHCR has only a very small budget
set aside to cater for the minority of refugees who live outside the
designated camps. They have to depend on what is available.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs, Isaac Nantanga,
confirmed to The Guardian that all matters related to the welfare of
refugees and asylum seekers were in the hands of UNHCR, while the
government was responsible for the security of Tanzanian citizens and
residents.
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