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AFP / Newly arrived Mozambican refugees wait for registration at the Kapise refugee camp in Malawi
The Mozambican government is sending a team to the western province of Tete to investigate alleged violations of human rights.
On Tuesday the Council of Ministers (Cabinet) promised an investigation, after the claims by human rights organisations that members of the defence and security forces had committed summary executions, had burnt down homes and barns in the Nkondezi area and that residents had fled into Malawi because of these abuses.
The Council of Ministers has followed this up by forming a team led by Deputy Justice Minister Joaquim Verissimo, and including Deputy Interior Minister Jose Coimbra, who will coordinate with the Tete provincial government to determine the nature of the human rights violations mentioned in reports in the local and foreign press.
The team must also “assess the conditions of humanitarian assistance for the Mozambicans in Malawi and ensure their return and settlement in the country”.
Human Rights Watch (HRW), one of the organizations that, on the basis of testimony from the refugees, denounced the alleged abuses, has welcomed the government’s decision.
Zenaida Machado, the Mozambique researcher at HRW, said ”The Mozambican government’s announcement to look further into the human rights violations committed by soldiers and others in Tete province is a welcome step in the right direction towards ending the abuses”.
“Any such investigations should be credible and transparent and ensure that those responsible for the serious human rights abuses are held to account, whether they are soldiers, police or members of Renamo”, she said. “Any attempts to disarm the Renamo militia should not be at he expense of people’s rights”.
The number of Mozambicans who have fled into Malawi has now risen to around 11,000, and the Malawian government has opted to grant them refugee status. The Malawian authorities have also issued an international appeal for US$15 million to support the refugees.
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