3. ENSURING THAT TODAY’S REFUGEES ARE NOT TOMORROW’S STATELESS: SOLUTIONS IN A REFUGEE CONTEXT the moment. We are like a bat. We are neither birds nor animals.”19 As a result of the incomplete process, the former refugees were losing out on every front: assistance provided to them as refugees was being withdrawn, but they were not able to access resources as citizens of the country: “We are not allowed to participate in any political activities around here because we have been told (by officials) that we are only 95% Tanzanian and 5% is still incomplete.”20 The sticking point for the incomplete process was the issue of relocation: after making their decision to apply for naturalisation they had subsequently been told that they would only receive their certificates when they relocated elsewhere in the country. However, this relocation, according to the former refugees, was seen to jeopardise the entire process and break crucial forms of local belonging that had allowed vital access to livelihoods. Moving away from the place that had been their home for the past 40 years was seen to jeopardise extended family connections and undermine the value of their current fixed assets (such as their houses and land) and, furthermore, would mark them out in their new areas as “outsiders” who did not legitimately belong. The fact that they had not only been supporting themselves, but exporting food to markets around the country, was a further indication of the potential inefficiency of asking them to relocate, not least given the fact that land, and especially arable land with water, is becoming an increasingly scarce resource in Tanzania, and levels of poverty are high. In addition, the programme was undermined by the unwillingness of some of the regions to which the former refugees were supposed to be resettled to accept them. The government eventually backed away from its decision to insist on relocation in 2014, and the vast majority of the former refugees have now received their certificates, thereby completing the process. A minority of cases involving persons who had less documentation to prove their identities is being processed more slowly. This remarkable case points to three main challenges. First, issues of citizenship or statelessness are intimately connected with discussions around durable solutions. In this case, the promotion of integration as a 19 20 Interview with former refugee woman, Mishamo settlement, Tanzania, August 2012. Cited in, IRRI, ‘I can’t be a citizen if I am still a refugee’, supra n16. Interview with former refugee man, Ulyankulu settlement, Tanzania, August 2012. Cited in IRRI, ‘I can’t be a citizen if I am still a refugee’, supra n16. 82