By HARBGUY MWAMBAZI —
IT is often the duty of any government to put in place specific measures or laws to ensure that citizens are accurately recognised.
Governments are also supposed to cater for foreign nationals in order to incorporate them in a particular country’s system.
Zambia is accustomed to receiving different foreign nationals, which also include refugees from various countries.
As the number of refugees continued to increase in Zambia, it was appropriate that certain measures were put in place in order to adequately ensure each individual has correct identity details.
Not long ago, Zambian Government, through the ministry of Home Affairs, warned that former Rwandese refugees in Zambia risked being declared illegal immigrants if they did not apply for integration by February 5, this year.
Ministry of Home Affairs spokesperson Moses Suwali said that being in possession of a Rwandan passport was one of the major requirements when applying for local integration.
But most refugees have resisted to apply for passports for various reasons.
Mr Suwali said only a few former refugees responded to the call to apply for passports at the Rwandan Embassy in Zambia and that so far, 22 of them had been granted resident permits after meeting necessary requirements.
“By February 5, 2016, if they don’t submit their applications for local integration, immigration laws will be applied.
“We don’t know the decisions that Government may come up with, maybe declaring them to be illegal immigrants and commencing the process of removing them out of the country.
“All those are options,” he said.
One might try to find out why most Rwandese refugees have been resisting in applying for the relevant documents to qualify them for full integration in Zambia.
Jean Ndayisenga, 39, a Rwandan refugee living in Zambia said he was not ready to apply for the passport.
He said he needed more time to process the registration of his passport.
“This arrangement has come at a time when am not ready as a Rwandese. Some people might like to go back, and others feel that they can’t,” he said.
He said when the Government in Zambia tells the former refugees to apply for Rwandan passports, some of the former refugees think that action means those applying for the passports are ready to go back to their home country.
Mr Ndayisenga felt that when refugees apply for passports, then in a way it would confirm that the Rwandan migrants or refugees no longer fear persecution and recognises their country as a safe place to
return to at anytime.
But that is not what we think because we feel Zambia is a safe refuge,” he said.
Mr Ndayisenga said the Rwandan refugees needed more time for them to think about the process of registering for a Rwandan passport before they can apply.
“It has come at a time when we haven’t even thought of any intention of applying. We need more time so that we can decide on the final decision about the matter,” he said.
He said most of the former refugees fear what might happen when they get the passports that the Zambian Government wants them to obtain. Right now, I am better here it is safe,” he said.
When President Edgar Lungu served as Minister of Home Affairs in 2013, he addressed the former refugees when they marked 19 years of living in exile.
At those celebrations, Mr Lungu said determining whether the situation was conducive for former refugees to return to their countries or not would be left to experts and the individuals themselves.
“You people have lived long enough here in Zambia, meaning that this process will sorely depend on your decision and that of the experts.
“It’s up to you and when they give you Rwandan identification, the task will be upon you to chose whether you want to be a resident or whether you want to be a Zambian national,” he said.
Mr Lungu further said the citizenship board would sit and evaluate their eligibility.
“A good number of you here whom I have known have lived here for a long time, and some even speak my language better than me some time. And at the end of the day, what is critical is what you will choose yourself.
“We won’t force you if you don’t want to go to Rwanda and we still won’t force you to stay in Zambia,” he said.
Mr Lungu further said the process at the time was initiated with the help of the Rwandese government and United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in ensuring that they do their part under critical eye of the international community.
Meanwhile, Mr Lungu also made mention of the difficulties that the Immigration Department in Zambia had gone through in trying to issue permits to Rwandan refugees because of certain limitations.
“We have laws and instructions and the unfortunate situation we have here is that the stateless person cannot be amenable to consideration for certain permits as stated under our laws.
For example, the spouse permit will only be given to a person who is married to a Zambian, the Immigration Department finds it sometimes difficult when they find reasons not to grant that permit to a Zambian,” he said.
He said a Rwandan refugee would only qualify for various permits if they get identity from Rwanda.
“If they give you that document of Rwandan identity from Rwanda, you will become eligible for all sorts of permits including the spouse permit, student permit, investor permit, residence permit as well as citizenship,” he said.
From what Mr Lungu explained, it can be noted that Zambia has always welcomed refugees without discrimination.
Odile Furaha, a former Rwandan serving as the spokesperson for Great Lakes Women Refugee Association in Zambia (GLWAZ) said personally, she was not ready to register and apply for the Rwandan passport because of security fears.
“Personally, I am not ready for it. I know that when I get a passport then I become a citizen.
But I am not ready to disown my refugee status right now because I know that there are many things involved in the background that not many people know about.
I am enjoying my life here in Zambia and I think it will be difficult for me to give up my refugee status,” she said.
Ms Furaha fears that once the registration process is undertaken, the data collected may end up in wrong hands thereby endangering her life as some people may use the information to track her and other former refugees down.
Ms Furaha also said many Rwandan refugees understood the results and the possibilities of what might happen if the passports that they applied for expire later on.
“It is a good idea to become integrated to be noticed as a Zambian, but what happens when our passports expire, it will mean that the authorities there in Rwanda will call all the refugees back to Rwanda to renew the passports and that, for me, is very dangerous and I fear that,” she said.
She said when war started in Rwanda, it became difficult to find refuges anywhere else, but Zambia was the only final destination that provided peace to those who left Rwanda.
“There was no safe place for me to run to after I left my country, but Zambia proved to be a refuge for me and some of my family,” she said.
She said people suspected to be spies from her country were fond of tracking down the former refugees in other countries and she feared the process of applying for passports would expose her to that danger.
“Right now, I love Zambia and my refugee status here means that I am safe, but in due time, I will consider integration,” she said.
According to the UNHCR, 4,634 former Rwandan refugees are expected to be locally integrated, while 1,548 are still regarded as refugees.
Mose Farame who lives in Ten Miles in Chisamba said he has not thought about applying for a Rwandan passport mainly because he doubts whether he would renew the passport in Zambia once it expired.
“Right now, I don’t even think of applying for the passport because I am not very sure if they will renew my passport here in Zambia once it expires.
“I ran away from Rwanda because of the war; here in Zambia I have established myself and I am running my business.
“I am happy because the business gives me security to look after my family,” he said.
However, it remains to be seen what this integration exercise will yield after it is carried out.
However, the fears expressed by some of the former refugees need to be put to rest so that individuals involved can go about with their lives.