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Tanzania Urged Not to Deport Refugees to Burundi

Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA - The U.N. refugee agency is urging Tanzania's government not to
   forcibly deport tens of thousands of Burundian political refugees to
   their home country, where it says their lives would be at risk.

   The countries signed a bilateral agreement in August to send the
   refugees home by the end of the year, and media reports indicate the
   Tanzanian government is ready to start deporting refugees to Burundi on
   Thursday.

   UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch tells VOA his agency hopes Tanzania and
   Burundi will not push refugees who fled persecution.

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