Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Thursday welcomed his Burundian counterpart Pierre Nkurunziza in the latter’s first foreign trip in two years.

Burundi’s Nkurunziza held bilateral talks with President Magufuli in his one-day visit to the East African nation.

President Nkurunziza urged nearly quarter-million Burundians sheltering in Tanzania to return home, saying the country is now peaceful something Tanzania’s Magufuli retorted.

“We call on our brothers and sisters sheltering in Tanzania to return home, so that we can build our country together,” said President Magufuli.

 “My Burundian brothers, I urge you to return home to build your country,” he added.

“You have just heard your president, prepare from today to return home. I am not expelling you, but we should speak the truth.”

The last time the Burundian leader made a foreign trip was in 2015 when a failed coup was staged while he attended an East African Community Summit in Dar es Salaam.

The two met at the border town of Ngara where where President Nkurunziza was greeted with a 21-gun salute and inspected a guard of honour mounted by Tanzania People's Defence Forces (TPDF).

The Tanzanian president is in Ngara in his six-day upcountry tour which he which started on Wednesday in Biharamulo, in the northwest, where he inaugurated the 154km Kagoma-Biharamulo-Lusahunga road. The road connects the border regions of Kigoma, Geita and Kagera. The regions border Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.

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