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Thousands of displaced Bru tribal refused to be repatriated back to Mizoram today after 17 years living in transit camps in Tripura, India.

The Bru, also known as Reang, fled Mizoram in 1997 following ethnic conflicts with the Mizos and have been in refugee camps since.

The repatriation process was due to be carried out today but the Bru have refused to return to the neighbouring state without cash worth about £1,400 per family, increased food rations and a written agreement from the Mizoram government ensuring their safety.

The tribes women stood together with placards saying 'We demand land allotment' and 'We want a written agreement' among their demands before they go back to Mizoram. Others staged a sit-in.

A total of 494 Bru families from more than 36,000 Reangs were verified as Mizoram residents and are welcome to return but despite a large number of vehicles being arranged to transport them, they didn't want to go. Just 5,000 Bru have returned to their homes in the past three years.

The Mizoram home department has said the central government approved some financial assistance for those refugees who are repatriated with food-grain supplies for a year being stored on their behalf, but the Bru want more after years of struggle.

We won't go: Bru tribal women hold placards protesting against the process that plans for them to be repatriated from camps in the Tripura to Mizoram, from which they fled ethnic violence in 1997

Demands: The Bru tribe want land, money, rations and written assurance from the Mizoram government ensuring their social and political safety

Making the most of it: The Bru were displaced from Mizoram following ethnic conflicts with the Mizos in 1997

 

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Hard living: For 17 years they have been living in six transit camps at Kanchanpur in north Tripura

Making contact: A Bru boy places his hand on the gun of a security officer deployed in the Naisingpara Bru refugee relief camp

Smiling faces: Bru tribal children at the Naisingpara Bru refugee relief camp in Tripura state

Confirmed: A total of 494 Bru families have been verified as genuine residents of Mizoram state

Traditions: A tribal man enjoys a 'Maktu', a traditional Bru smoking pipe

Peaceful: A Bru woman with two children at Naisingpara refugee camp