MPs reject UNHCR's proposal on refugees
MPs reject UNHCR's proposal on refugeesBy Chibaula Silwamba
Wednesday August 01, 2007 [04:00]
PARLIAMENTARIANS have rejected the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)’s proposal for refugees who have declined to repatriate to be integrated in the Zambian communities.
And home affairs Permanent Secretary Peter Mumba confirmed that parliamentarians were averse on the proposed local integration of 40, 000 Angolan refugees that remained in Zambia at the end of the repatriation exercise.
Meanwhile, Mumba said he has sought Cabinet’s guidance on the action that should be taken on the remaining Angolan refugees.
In an interview after the meeting involving parliamentarians, UNHCR delegation and government officials at Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka on Monday, Patriotic Front (PF) Kabushi member of parliament Lombani Mschili said most parliamentarians opposed UNHCR’s agenda to persuade them to support the local integration of refugees that refuse to return to their countries of origin after the repatriation exercise ends.
“Basically a lot of issues were brought up which UNHCR would like to bring up at Parliament so that refugees can be integrated but we are looking at the number of the refugees that they want to integrate, it’s too much,” Mschili said. “The majority of the members of parliament were opposed to the position of the UNHCR that refugees be integrated.”
He said the parliamentarians felt that integrating a large number of refugees into the Zambian communities might in future bring problems.
Mschili said there were also fears that some refugees had acquired National Registration Cards and registered as voters.
Other parliamentarians, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said their meeting had become “hot” and they openly opposed the local integration of the refugees.
The parliamentarians said in the closed-door session, they demanded that refugees whose repatriation period had elapsed should be forced to return to their home countries.
Earlier, the parliamentarians jeered UNHCR acting country representative Vedasto Mwesiga when he said the refugees that had lived in Zambia longer should have their stay legalised.
“No! They should go back to their countries!” the parliamentarians shouted.
And Mumba confirmed that parliamentarians were averse on local integration of refugees due to insufficient information they had on refugees.
“We gave them the menu of options that included voluntary repatriation of refugees, local integration and resettlement in a third country. The debate continues on those three options,” Mumba said.
He said the parliamentarians expressed reservations on the high number of refugees that would need integration.
Mumba said the UNHCR and other partners had proposed the consideration of the cessation close of their refugee status.
On Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) refugees, Mumba said only 4,000 had been repatriated against the planned 20, 000 at the end of this year and expressed pessimism that the targeted number would be repatriated.
“The international community has disappointed us because the money they pledged is not yet in. My appeal to the international community is that they should honour their pledges towards the repatriation of Congolese refugees,” Mumba said. “In fact, I would like to say to the international community to sponsor a study to assess the availability of land in various chiefdoms so that if it comes to integration, we should know the areas where they could be integrated.”
posted by MrK @ 3:36 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home