DAR ES SALAAM (March 2) XINHUA -
The Tanzanian government has informed the United Nations refugee agency
that it was on the verge of sealing off many of its camps because of congestion
problems, the Guardian newspaper said Thursday.
Though all camps were crowded as a result
of overwhelming refugee influx, Tanzania has no choice but to accept more
of them under the commitment to the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), Home Affairs Minister Ali Ameir Mohamed told the newspaper.
However, he said each camp has its own limit on the number of refugees it can accommodate.
The alert was raised as large number of refugees, fleeing civil war in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, continue to enter western Tanzanian regions in droves, said the Guardian.
Authorities of the western Kigoma Region claimed that as of last week, the region hosted 468,000 registered refugees, but it is believed that there are some 200,000 unaccounted for refugees scattered in various locations in the region.
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Received by NewsEdge Insight: 03/02/2000 06:29:03