Clayton Boeyink

"I would rather die before I returned to Burundi." For years, Burundian refugees living in Tanzanian camps have faced coercion by the Tanzanian authorities to return home to where they risk crushing poverty, government persecution, and the potential violence of local land conflicts.

For years, Burundian refugees living in Tanzanian camps have faced coercion by the Tanzanian authorities to return home to where they risk crushing poverty, government persecution, and the potential violence of local land conflicts. Now, yet again, the Tanzanian government is ramping up efforts to push the remaining 142,000 Burundian refugees out of the country, with officials warning that the last two camps – Nduta and Nyarugusu – will be closed in the coming few months.

ABSTRACT This article examines how the prospect of resettlement influences the migration plans and daily lives of encamped refugees. Using repeat surveys and interviews carried out with 77 refugee households in 2017–2023, we explore the consequences of the unfortunate “natural experiment” of Nyarugusu refugee camp, where some Congolese refugees had substantial chances to be resettled while Burundian refugees were de facto barred from the opportunity.