Mozambique: Tete Government to Assess Situation of Refugees

Maputo — The government of the western Mozambican province of Tete plans to seed a team to Malawi in the next few days to assess the needs of more than 3,000 Mozambicans who have fled across the border to escape clashes between gunmen of the former rebel movement Renamo and the Mozambican defence and security forces.

According to the permanent secretary of the provincial government, Lina Portugal, cited by the Beira daily paper “Diario de Mocambique”, the delegation will include the Tete provincial director of immigration, and officials from Tsanano and Moatize districts, where the refugees come from.

“Within a matter of days, we shall send a team which will work with the Malawian government and with our colleagues in the Mozambican consulate, so that we can obtain real information in the accommodation centres, and question people to find out what they need, so that we can support them”, she said.

This survey, Portugal added, will also help the team ascertain why the refugees abandoned their homes, and whether the conditions exist for them to return to Mozambique.

“As a government, what we want is to gauge the reality on the ground, to see how we can intervene to support the refugees”, said Portugal.

Currently the refugees are living in three accommodation centres in southern Malawi, and are said to be desperately short of basic requirements for their survival.

Instability in Tsangano dates back to 2 April 2014, when Renamo gunmen ambushed a unit of the defence forces in Chibaene locality, when they were returning to the district capital after a patrol.

From Chibaene, the Renamo militia extended its action to Nkondezi locality in the neighbouring district of Moatize, setting up a military base in the area of Ndande.

Source :AIM