Malawi has ordered thousands of refugees to return to the overcrowded camp Refugee News

The Malawian government has ordered thousands of long-integrated refugees to return to their only refugee camp but very crowded, as many have held on to the controversial order.

According to the UN, about 2,000 refugees live in Dzaleka, about 40 kilometers north of the capital Lilongwe.

Many have been living there for years, starting businesses in the village or marrying Malawians and having children with them.

But the government believes that living among the locals poses a potential risk to national security.

“We don’t have them chasing after them, and we want them to be where they want to be,” Interior Security Minister Richard Chimwendo told AFP.

“Those who have business … will have to act from Dzale.”

“If they are married they should apply for permanent residence” rather than spread across the country. “

“We don’t send them to their countries,” he argued.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR Malawi has said the directive is in line with the country’s camping laws, but has recommended it be reconsidered by the government.

He said, according to an official communication received from the Ministry of National Security, that the decision was also taken in view of “security concerns” due to the dire situation in the Cape Delgado area of ​​Mozambique to protect refugees and host communities.

Chimwendo said the decision to relocate the refugees was not linked to the uprising in northern Mozambique, which has been wreaking havoc on armed groups for three years.

Around 1994, with a capacity of between 10,000 and 14,000 refugees, there are 49,386 people in the camp and hundreds more continue to arrive each month, according to the UNHCR.

‘We are not comfortable’

The deadline for refugees to return to camp was April 28, but a last-minute court order gave them a short break.

Jean Minani, a longtime Burundian refugee living outside the camp, is among many who oppose the order.

In one of Malawi’s main languages, speaking Chichewa, he told AFP that he applied for asylum in the southern African country 13 years ago, eventually setting up a small retail business, a grocery store.

Like many asylum seekers, Minani sees it as impossible to return to Dzalka after successfully integrating into a local community for himself and his family.

With the idea of ​​“we’re not comfortable,” Minani said, spreading fears of catching COVID-19 in a crowded camp.

He also feared that the move would disrupt children’s education while they were looking at the exams, and mocked a monthly ration of food, which cost $ 5 (four euros).

Kanamula John, who represents Rwandan refugees in the camp, is concerned about the congestion at the facility.

“Some of us are married to Malawian women and some Malawian men are married to refugees. We don’t know what will happen to our children, ”John said.

The minister admitted that there was not enough accommodation in the camp, but vowed “we are looking at how to fix this”.

Burundian Ntizo Muheba, who arrived in Malawi in 2005, has returned to camp but has fallen asleep due to lack of accommodation.

“I have four kids, and it’s hard to live like that,” she said.

About 62% of the refugees are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 23% from Burundi, 14% from Rwanda and the rest from Somalia and Ethiopia.

Congolese refugee John Muhirwa called on the government to “allow us to endure with them and live outside the camp so that our children can return to their schools. We lived in peace with the local people.”

Rights groups have called on the government to treat refugees with dignity and care for their financial assets.

“We don’t want to see a scenario where people will take advantage of access to or seize refugee property,” said the president of the Gift Trapence Human Rights Defense coalition.

Although UNHCR acknowledged that the government has legitimate reasons to order the relocation, it warned that there are “serious human rights consequences.”

In an email to AFP, he said the schools would be congested and water supplies and health facilities would be extended.

Meanwhile, Malawi has stressed that he will challenge the court order, the latest since 2016 in the legal debates between the government and refugees.