By Martha Kachingwe Phiri—LILONGWE
Dust refuses to settle on the forced relocation of refugees and asylum seekers to Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa as Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives-CDEDI now wants President Lazarus Chakwera to tame his Homeland Security Minister, Ken Zikhale Ng’oma in the manner he is handling the matter.
CDEDI Executive Director, Sylvester Namiwa told a media briefing in Lilongwe on Friday that Ng’oma and other government senior officials should refrain from making public statements with potential to stir unnecessary panic and create undesirable situations in the country.
In particular, Namiwa faulted the minister and Commissioner General of Refugees, Ignacio Maulana for indicating that Malawi was hosting 44 former Rwandan Army Generals; arguing such utterances have created fear and shown how vulnerable the country is with its porous borders.
“In a serious country, such a revelation would have forced heads to roll, but here it is business as usual. Sad,” said Namiwa, whose organization has not been amused with how authorities are handling the relocation exercise.
During the Commissioning of 81 officer cadets in Salima on Friday, Malawi Defence Force Commander, General Vincent Nundwe also touched on the issue and praised the homeland security minister for his relent efforts in the relocation exercise.
He faulted some Malawians for aiding illegal immigrants in the country; saying some of them enter the country with guns, posing a security threat.
On Thursday, a group of concerned Rwandans warned Malawian authorities to use a higher degree of wisdom in establishing the real motive behind Rwandan government’s insistence that they be sent back home.
In their statement, the refugees denounced all the demands by the Rwandan authorities to Malawi; describing them as baseless; claiming it is a plot to eliminate those refugees they see as potential enemies because they don’t share their terrorism ideology.
“It is to cause fear in the rest as a message that they have nowhere to hide. More importantly, to continually cause havoc in order for the host nation to take their privileges. We have been living peacefully with our Malawian friends until the dawn of the RFP Inkonanyi in SADC region,” says the group in a statement.
The group’s sentiments come days after Ng’oma told journalists in Lilongwe that they had received a request from the Rwandan government to send back 55 wanted refugees currently staying in Malawi.
On Wednesday, the High Court in Lilongwe stopped the Malawi government from revoking citizenship of 396 Burundians and Rwandans pending judicial review of the matter.
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