Front PageNational News

Mozambican refugees spread to other districts

 Ministry of Homeland Security says the influx of Mozambican asylum seekers f leeing post-election violence in their country to other parts of Malawi, including Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa, is exerting pressure on public resources.

Speaking in an inter v iew yesterday, the ministry’s Principal Secretary Steve Kayuni confirmed that they have information that the asylum seekers, who initially crossed into the southern tip border district of Nsanje, are now in Chikwawa, Mangochi, Machinga, Dedza, Ntcheu and Dowa.

Kayuni: Influx will put pressure on resources. | Nation

He said 61 Mozambican asylum seekers found their way to Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa last week.

Said Kayuni: “We have a few [Mozambican asylum seekers] at Dzaleka now registered and a few others as well in other districts, considering that almost half of our country shares a borderline with Mozambique.

“So, it was expected that the influx of the Mozambican asylum seekers will affect service delivery because they sometimes use the same public resources such as healthcare services.”

In a separate interview, Dedza distr ict commissioner (DC) Thomas Chigwenembe said between January 7 and 8, the district hosted about 254 Mozambican asylum seekers, but they returned to their home country few days later.

He said Dedz a rec e i ve s Mozambicans almost daily, but most of them just seek temporary asylum.

Said Chigwenembe: “Between 13th and 14th January, there were some people who came from Mozambique, but they just spent a night and returned the following day.”

Some asylum seekers at a
settlement camp | Nation

Chikwawa district disaster risk management officer Charity Machika said as of Friday, the district had about 88 Mozambican households who were being held at old Chang’ambika Community Day Secondary School.

She said the district needs relief item such as food and sanitary materials to support the displaced Mozambicans.

Ntcheu DC George Ngaiyaye said his district has no official records regarding Mozambican asylum seekers, but asked for more time to gather detailed information.

Last week , the humanitarian community in collaboration with the Department of Refugees organised a multi – stakeholder consultation on the management of the Mozambican asylum seekers.

Among others , the meeting stressed the need for concerted efforts among all the stakeholders, including government ministries, departments and agencies , non – governmental organisations and international donor community in managing the Mozambican refugees.

Commissioner for Refugees General Ignacio Maulana (retired) told the meeting that Mozambicans at the newly established Ny amithuthu Refugee Settlement camp in Nsanje face critical challenges in accessing essential services such as shelter, food supplies and healthcare.

Depar tment of Di s a s ter Management Affairs commissioner Charles Kalemba last week assured Mozambican asylum seekers that government will continue supporting them with food and other basic needs.

According to Department of Refugees senior administrative and operations manager Hilda Katema Kausiwa, as of January 8 2025, Nyamithuthu Refugee Settlement Camp hosted about 3 976 people from Mozambique.

The asylum seekers fled their country following post-election protests af ter Mozambique’s Constitutional Council confirmed the victory of ruling Frelimo presidential candidate Daniel Chapo in the October 9 national elections.

Chapo was sworn in as Mozambique president on January 15 2025, succeeding President Filipe Nyusi who has completed his two terms.

Decide Election Platform and other civil society organisations have reported that since October 21 2024, over 277 people have been killed and at least 586 are nursing gunshot wounds.

The tensions are causing a strain on Mozambique’s neighbours. Besides Malawi, Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, is also hosting at least 1 000 Mozambican households.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button