Maputo accuses UNHCR representative in Malawi of mobilizing refugees not to return

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Maputo accuses UNHCR representative in Malawi of mobilizing refugees not to return

3:52 CAT | 17 Feb 2016

Presidency of Mozambique / VOA (Courtesy Photo) / Oldemiro Balói, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Mozambique.

The Mozambican government is accusing the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Malawi, Monike Ekoko, of mobilizing Mozambican refugees in Malawi not to return to Mozambique, despite the unsatisfactory conditions in which they are living.

State-owned Radio Mozambique says that 5,600 Mozambicans have fled to Malawi due to political instability in parts of the country. Maputo wants them to return, but says that the representative of the UNHCR in Malawi, Monike Ekoko, is acting against this.

During his visit this weekend to the refugee centre in Kapise, Malawi, the Mozambican Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Oldemiro Baloi, remonstrated with Monike Ekoko over her alleged advice to Mozambican refugees to remain in Malawi.

While praising the support offered by the Malawian authorities, Baloi said he found conditions in the Kapise centre “a true humanitarian tragedy”.

“I am upset by the fact that they are enduring a very worrying situation,” he said.

The Mozambican foreign minister said that the government was working to stop the growth in the numbers fleeing and reduce the number of refugees, not least because many are young people able to work who now live in complete idleness.

Source: VOA Portugues