More than 100 Burundian refugees living in Malawi are scheduled to return home Thursday, following negotiations between the Malawian government, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the Burundian government.

Patrick Botha, spokesperson for the Malawian Ministry of Homeland Security, confirmed the development to the local media Monday, saying 108 of the refugees living at Dzaleka, a UNHCR-designated refugee camp in Malawi, had volunteered to return home.

Botha said the repatriation was supposed to be done on Sept. 15, but it was shifted to Oct. 5 due to logistical problems that the preparations for the exercise faced.

"I can confirm that 108 refugees of Burundian nationality are set to leave for Bujumbura, Burundi, on Oct. 5 through a process called repatriation, which is the best solution in refugees' management," explained Botha.

The first cohort of refugees on voluntary repatriation left Dzaleka Camp to their various countries in June following the Malawian government's back-to-camp campaign, which Minister of Homeland Security Ken Zikhale Ng'oma instituted to force all refugees living outside Dzaleka to return to the camp.

The Homeland Security spokesperson hoped for more refugees to come forward voluntarily and request repatriation as most of the countries they fled are now conflict-free.

The Dzaleka Refugee Camp was established in 1994 to host 10,000-12,000 refugees and asylum-seekers from countries in conflict or adverse environments, namely Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Somalia.

The population of the camp has grown over the years to over 50,000, according to the UNHCR. 

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