03/04/23 (Agence Europe) – The European Union is mobilising €9 million in humanitarian aid for vulnerable Burundians, both returnees and refugees in neighbouring countries, the European Commission announced on Monday 3 April. In February 2023, more than 300,000 Burundian refugees were still registered in the four main countries of asylum: Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. EU aid will help fund their basic needs - food, health care, water, sanitation, hygiene, housing, education - as most of these refugees are entirely dependent on international aid. Assistance to Burundians who have returned home (more than 200,000 since 2017) will focus on the protection of people. Out of this humanitarian aid package, €1.5 million will fund disaster preparedness projects, given that in 2022 more than 75,000 people were displaced by natural disasters. (AN)