33,000 Bru refugees in Tripura to go home to Mizoram

Prospects of repatriation of 33,000 Reang tribal refugees from camps in Tripura to their homes in Mizoram have brightened with the Mizoram government agreeing to take them back, officials and refugee leaders said.

The Mizoram government held a meeting with the refugee leaders led by Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF) vice president Bruno Masha in state capital Aizawl to finalise the modalities of the repatriation process.

‘We are happy at the outcome of the meeting and welcome the decision to conduct a survey by some NGOs and state government to identify genuine citizens of Mizoram among the refugees sheltered in north Tripura,’ Masha said.

The Reang refugees, also locally known as Bru, have been sheltered in six north Tripura camps since October 1997 following ethnic clashes with the majority Mizos in Mizoram.

The Aizawl meeting was held after the Reang refugees had threatened to move the Supreme Court against the Mizoram Government’s ‘failure’ to take them back.

‘Immediately after the completion of the proposed survey, the process of repatriation would start,’ Mizoram home secretary C. Ropianga said.

Identification of genuine residents of Mizoram among the refugees is necessary as it has been alleged that hundreds of Tripura’s Reangs have mingled with the refugees in the camps.

‘The Mizoram government officials have assured us that the state government would make utmost efforts to repatriate the refugees to their homes in western Mizoram as early as possible,’ said R. Laldongliana, MBDPF general secretary.

After 14 rounds of talks, the Mizoram government and the militant Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) had signed an agreement in April 2005 to solve the decade-old ethnic crisis, leading to the surrender before the state government of about 1,040 militants belonging to the BNLF and Bru Liberation front of Mizoram (BLFM).

Both the rebel outfits had been fighting for setting up of an autonomous council for the Reang refugees.

The refugee influx had led to socio-economic problems in Tripura.

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