Paper short abstract:

Under Tanzanian President John Magufuli, the Tanzanian state has had a proclivity to abruptly shut down progressive refugee initiatives. This paper interrogates the motives of shutdown politics, and recounts the consequences for refugees living in refugee camps.

Paper long abstract:

The space of asylum in Tanzania has been constricting under President John Magufuli. In a year's time, the government has shut down, without warning, three progressive initiatives designed to benefit refugees and their integration into host communities in Western Tanzania. President Magufuli met with Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza declaring to Burundian refugees in Tanzania that it is safe to return to Burundi, contradicting reports from human rights organisations. Two weeks after this speech in August 2017 he promptly shut down a popular World Food Programme cash transfer programme giving cash as a replacement to food allowing for choice for refugees and a boost for the local economy. In February 2018, President Magufuli abruptly pulled out of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF), a pilot programme Tanzania volunteered for to receive international aid in exchange for reforming national refugee law to increase freedom of movement and employment for refugees. Finally, in July 2018 the decision was made to shut down common market activities in all three refugee camps in Tanzania. In a climate of inadequate international funding and food ration reductions these shutdowns have been devastating. Moreover, for many Burundians who had lived as refugees in Tanzania before, they are interpreting these events as signs of an imminent forced repatriation similar to when Mtabila refugee camp was violently closed in 2012. Drawing from doctoral fieldwork in 2017 and 2018 during these events, this paper examines the role of the Tanzanian central state and its consequences in Western Tanzanian refugee camps.