Mozambique: President announces joint refugee commission with Malawi

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Mozambique: President announces joint refugee commission with Malawi

2:21 CAT | 27 Apr 2016

BBC (File photo) / A Mozambican refugee photograhed in Kapise camp, Malawi

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi announced in Malawi on Monday that the two countries would create a joint commission to resolve the situation of Mozambican refugees in Malawi, and would seek to establish the conditions necessary for their return.

According to Notícias, President Nyusi mentioned the Mozambican refugees in Malawi at a press conference at the end of a meeting with his Malawi and Zambia counterparts, Peter Mutharika and Edgar Lungu.

“The commission will work out the details to understand the genesis of the problem and see how the displaced can return home voluntarily,” Nyusi said, quoted by Notícias.

The newspaper states that the number of Mozambican refugees in the Kapise camp fell from about 11,000 to 5,000 due to voluntary repatriation by thousands of refugees who did not want to be transferred to a centre farther from the border.

Mozambican refugees in Kapise were forced to flee the country due to clashes between Mozambican defence and security forces and the armed wing of Renamo (Mozambique National Resistance), the main opposition party, in the centre of the country.

Mozambique is experiencing a political and military crisis characterized by clashes between the defence and security forces and armed Renamo men and attacks in various sections of the country’s main road in the central region attributed to the movement.

The crisis was triggered by the refusal of Renamo to recognize defeat in the general elections of 2014 and the movement’s demand to rule in the six provinces where it won the general elections that year.

Source: Lusa