Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration Department
NGO Directory, 27 October 2011
Address:
Director of Immigration Services
Ohio and Ghana Street, PO.Box 512
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania, United Republic of
Tel: +255 22 211 8640 to 43
Fax: +255- 22 211 2174
Email: admini@immigration.go.tz
Web: www.moha.go.tz
Somali Bantu refugees gaining citizenship in Tanzania
A fresh start; Burundian former refugees begin a new chapter in their lives
Since the end of October more than 26,000 Burundian former refugees have been assisted by UNHCR and its partners to return home from the Mtabila camp in northwest Tanzania. The operation is organized with the Government of Tanzania to help some 35,500 Burundian former refugees go back to Burundi by the end of 2012, when the Mtabila camp officially closes.
Refugee status for most Burundians in Tanzania formally ended in August following individual interviews to assess remaining protection needs. A total of 2,715 people will continue to be hosted as refugees in Tanzania, while the rest, the last of a population of refugees who left Burundi some 20 years ago, must return home. This is not an easy move after having spent most of your life -- and sometimes all of it -- in exile.
While awaiting their turn to join one of the daily convoys to bring them home, Burundian former refugees are preparing themselves for a fresh start…
A fresh start; Burundian former refugees begin a new chapter in their lives
Tanzanian refugees return to Zanzibar
The UN refugee agency has successfully completed the voluntary repatriation of 38 Tanzanian refugees from Zanzibar who had been residing in the Somalia capital, Mogadishu, for more than a decade. The group, comprising 12 families, was flown on two special UNHCR-chartered flights from Mogadishu to Zanzibar on July 6, 2012. From there, seven families were accompanied back to their home villages on Pemba Island, while five families opted to remain and restart their lives on the main Zanzibar island of Unguja. The heads of households were young men when they left Zanzibar in January 2001, fleeing riots and violence following the October 2000 elections there. They were among 2,000 refugees who fled from the Tanzanian island of Pemba. The remainder of the Tanzanian refugee community in Mogadishu, about 70 people, will wait and see how the situation unfolds for those who went back before making a final decision on their return.
Tanzanian refugees return to Zanzibar
![Tanzania: Setting Sail to Safety](https://webarchive.archive.unhcr.org/20151217104825im_/http://img.youtube.com/vi/NrsjZvJV1Yg/0.jpg)
![Play video](/20151217104825im_/http://www.unhcr.org/images/furniture/video_play_big.png)
Tanzania: Setting Sail to Safety
More than 60,000 Burundian refugees have arrived in Tanzania since the beginning of May. On the shores of Lake Tanganyika, hundreds board a ferry to Kigoma, Tanzania, before continuing to Nyaragusu camp.
![Somalia: Zanzibar Return](/20151217104825im_/http://www.unhcr.org/thumb1/4ffc4f116.jpg)
![Play video](/20151217104825im_/http://www.unhcr.org/images/furniture/video_play_big.png)
Somalia: Zanzibar Return
It took more than a decade, but finally a group of families return to Zanzibar in Tanzania after living in exile in Mogadishu, Somalia.
![Tanzania: Road to Citizenship](/20151217104825im_/http://www.unhcr.org/thumb1/4e9582ec6.jpg)
![Play video](/20151217104825im_/http://www.unhcr.org/images/furniture/video_play_big.png)
Tanzania: Road to Citizenship
In 2007, UNHCR and the government of Tanzania gave him a choice: return home or become Tanzanian. It was an easy decision for Michael Sheltieri Namoya.