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UNHCR Urges Malawi Against Forcing Refugees into Overcrowded Camp

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is asking the Malawian government to reconsider its decision to force about 8,000 refugees and asylum-seekers living in villages, towns, and cities back into the overcrowded Dzaleka camp.

The commission says relocating self-sufficient and productive people into the camp would not only lead to loss of livelihoods but also compel them to rely on dwindling humanitarian aid. Homeland Security Minister Jean Sendeza said the forced relocations would start after November 30, 2022 when a deadline expires on voluntary returns. He added that the returns were in line with rules against refugees working or living outside the camp.

Dzaleka is home to refugees and asylum-seekers from Burundi, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Somalia. Limited aid at the Dzaleka camp led to refugees holding sporadic protests in November 2022, some of which turned violent.

Sendeza said the UNHCR has pledged U.S.$58 million to reconstruct the abandoned Luwani refugee camp that was closed in 2007 to help decongest Dzaleka.

InFocus

Patience Ngunde / UNODC

Criminal networks are operating within the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in central Malawi (file photo).

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