Mozambique to repatriate 300 refugees

Some 300 refugees, mostly Congolese, who had sought shelter in Mozambique, should be repatriated to their countries of origin by the end of May, according to the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Victoria Akeyampong.

According to Mozambique News Agency (AIM), Akeyampong told local media that one of the returning refugees is from Rwanda, one is from the Republic of Congo, and all the others are from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

After the end of the war in the DRC, and the elections that confirmed Joseph Kabila as president, many Congolese have requested that they be sent home, said Akeyampong.

"We hope to repatriate them by the end of next month", she said.

Agreements had been reached with some air companies to transport this group.

However, the majority of refugees in Mozambique have expressed no desire to return to their own countries, even though some of them are now at peace.

In all, there are currently 7,034 refugees and asylum-seekers in Mozambique, according to statistics from the Mozambican government's Refugee Support Institute (INAR).

5,148 of them are living in the Maratane refugee center in the northern province of Nampula, while the rest are scattered across the country.

The 4,563 are from the DRC, and 1,317 are from Burundi. Smaller numbers are from Zimbabwe, Uganda, Sudan, Angola, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Cuba, Eritrea, and Palestine.

Akeyampong said repatriation is voluntary, but some of the refugees have expressed no interest in going home because they have found jobs, or are involved in business in Mozambique.

"Some may even be thinking of settling here definitively, but for this they need to seek residence permission from the Mozambican state", she said.

The group of refugees that should leave by the end of May all requested repatriation. Registration of refugees who want to go home is continuing, said Akeyampong.

Repatriation involves three parties -- the UNHCR, the Mozambican government and the government of the country of origin.

Source: Xinhua