Outside the Burundian embassy in Nairobi, the line stretches for hundreds of meters. On Monday, September 7, thousands of Burundian nationals gathered there, clutching a few photocopied documents, hoping to secure a travel pass to get home as quickly as possible. Many now fear being arrested in the days ahead.
This panic traces back to an announcement by Kenyan President William Ruto. On September 3, he declared that foreign traders operating without a work permit would be deported, giving them until the following Monday to shut down their businesses. The timing is likely no accident. With less than a year to go before a presidential election in which his re-election is far from certain, the head of state appears to be responding to growing social discontent.
For the Burundian community, some of whom have lived in Kenya for years, the announcement landed like a thunderclap. Stanislas, who has run a small stall for six years, waits along with everyone else outside the embassy, sitting on the sidewalk. Jean-Baptiste Ndayizeye, a Burundian pastor, says the measure feels like being expelled « like animals. » These accounts capture a feeling shared by many: that of being abruptly cast out after years spent trying to build a life, however modest.
Eric Bizimana’s story helps explain why so many Burundians have sought their fortune in Kenya in the first place. He arrived in 2022 after years of unemployment back home, hoping for better prospects. The reality turned out to be far harsher. He has been getting by on just 100 to 130 euros a month, working precarious, poorly paid jobs. Like many others, he never applied for a work permit, a document that is legally required but financially out of reach for most small foreign traders.
This crisis exposes deeper tensions within Kenyan society itself. Some residents defend the government’s crackdown, accusing foreign workers, Burundians included, of accepting wages half those paid to Kenyans and of crowding several people into cramped housing, which they say adds further strain to an already saturated job market. One trader interviewed on the matter argues that such remarks are not racist, but simply reflect how much harder life in Kenya has become, even for its own citizens.
A striking paradox complicates that argument, though. Kenya, often seen as the economic powerhouse of the region, has itself watched more than 400,000 of its own citizens leave to work abroad in recent years, particularly in Gulf countries, actively encouraged by its own authorities. The very country now pushing foreigners toward the exit has, at the same time, actively supported the emigration of its own people in search of opportunities elsewhere.
For the Burundians currently gathered outside their embassy, though, these political and economic considerations take a back seat. Their immediate priority is securing the documents they need to get home before the situation worsens further, leaving behind years of effort and uncertainty.