Refugees whose shipping containers were confiscated by government have started reclaiming them back after court has ordered repossession of the containers.
Out of the 125 forty foot containers which were in safe keeping at the Police Headquarters in Lilongwe, nine have this far been collected by their respective owners.
Government through Ministry of Homeland Security possessed the containers in 2023 while they were implementing an exercise of forcing refugees who were staying and doing businesses outside Dzaleka Refugees Camp back to the camp.
Police spokesperson, Peter Kalaya, has said that after the containers were taken to Police their owners were advised to go through the court and reclaim the containers and their contents after which some obliged while others didn’t do anything about it.
Said Kalaya, “There were 125 forty foot shipping containers in total 72 of which are yet to be claimed by their owners while out of the 53 claimed ones 22 owners went to court to start a process of repossessing them.”
The seventy-two unclaimed containers risk being auctioned if their owners do not show up. The relocation exercise took place in 2023 after it was said that there were many refugees staying out of their designated place of Dzaleka Refugees Camp.
Jean Claud Mbarubukeye, who claimed four containers said that he was happy to finally get his possessions after they were taken from him by the authorities.
He said, “I am happy that I am getting my four containers after being in the hands of government since 2023. There are a few things which were in the containers that are no longer in good condition but we are going to find a way forward after discussing between my lawyers and the Police.”
Brendaedyth Buliyani who is communications officer for Inua Advocacy, a refugees rights advocacy organization, said that they are pleased to see this development because they have been advocating for this since the containers were ceased.
She said, “We have always advocated that the injustices that were done over the refugees who were staying outside the camp be addressed and this is one of those.”
Buliyani also urged all those who had their containers ceased and are yet to claim them to come forward before the authorities start thinking that no one is going to claim those containers. There are 72 forty foot containers that are yet to be claimed.
