150 Burundi refugees head to Maheba
Published On July 1, 2015 » 2286 Views» By Administrator Times » Latest News, Stories
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By SYLVESTER MWALE –

MORE than 150 Burundian asylum seekers have been relocated to Maheba refugee camp in Western Province after fleeing conflict in Burundi.
The asylum seekers left yesterday on a bus facilitated by the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees in the Ministry of Home Affairs and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
A check at the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees yesterday found scores of asylum seekers, mostly women and children, awaiting transportation.
UNHCR Zambia spokesperson Kelvin Shimo said about 400 Burundi refugees had arrived in Zambia in the last one month.
“The Office of the Commissioner for Refugees in the Ministry of Home Affairs, working with UNHCR, is currently doing the registration in Lusaka, and those granted refugee status after interviews are being relocated to the refugee settlements,” he said.
He said most of the asylum seekers were from Burundi and had entered Zambia through Mpulungu Harbour on Lake Tanganyika.
“They travel from that country (Burundi) by boat on Lake Tanganyika up to the port town of Mpulungu in Zambia, where they get on a bus to Lusaka. The asylum-seekers are citing generalised and escalating political violence as the reason for living their country,” he said.
UNHCR senior legal advisor Katele Kalumba Junior said more asylum seekers would be transported to Maheba as soon as transport was made available.
He said the screening exercise would continue at Maheba to establish the status of all who had entered the country in recent weeks.
Civil unrest has erupted in Burundi after the country’s President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term in office, forcing thousands of people to flee the country.

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