13 Somalis from Maratane Refugee Centre held since Sunday in Marínguè, Sofala

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13 Somalis from Maratane Refugee Centre held since Sunday in Marínguè, Sofala

1:16 CAT | 09 Aug 2018

File photo: RM / For illustration purposes only

Thirteen Somali citizens have been detained in the Maringuè district of Sofala since last Sunday. They were stopped by the immigration authorities in Nhamapadza as they were travelling to Maputo on a passenger bus.

The group come from the Maratane Refugee Centre in Nampula province and have not presented a clear reason for their trip. The authorities do not rule out criminal motivations, and the group that may be returned to the Maratane Refugee Centre in the coming days.

A spokesman for the provincial Migration Directorate in Sofala, Mangaze Singano, said that the individuals, aged between 13 and 38, have been in the country for more than three years and have refugee identification documents.

“Movement is allowed by law, but in order to reside in another region you need authorisation. What made us suspicious of where they were going and what they were going to do was the size of the group. In order not to take any risk, and also because they won’t say where they were going and what they were going to do, we would prefer to return them to where they came from, which in this case is the refugee centre in Nampula [Maratane],” Singano said.

Source: Rádio Moçambique