PRESS RELEASE
Geneva — As the number of Mozambicans fleeing to Malawi continues to grow, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is calling on all parties to respect their right to seek asylum amid signs of pressure to return.
More than 6,000 have arrived in Malawi since mid-December, citing clashes between armed elements of the opposition RENAMO and government forces. Nearly all of the new arrivals are staying in a settlement in Kapise village, Mwanza district, some 100 kilometres south of Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, with others scattered throughout the neighbouring district of Chikwawa.
A UNHCR statement released in Geneva on Thursday said Mozambican government officials had visited Kapise at least three times since mid-January to ask people why they fled, discuss the possibility of returning to their places of origin and monitor the humanitarian situation of their fellow citizens. The Mozambican government has offered to provide socio-economic assistance should they return.
UNHCR has expressed concern directly to both governments that the right to seek asylum and the principle of voluntary repatriation, as enshrined in the 1951 UN and 1969 Organization of African Union (OAU) conventions on refugees, should not be compromised. Both governments were reminded of their international obligations toward refugees and asylum seekers and the principles of voluntary return as regards this caseload.
