(19 August 2011, LANTYRE)--At least 80 Ethiopian nationals have been arrested in the Malawi capital, Lilongwe, police said Friday.
"Yes, we have arrested these Ethiopians as they could not explain why they are in Malawi," said Central Region police spokesman John Namalenga.
Namalenga said after interrogation the Ethiopians said they had hitch-hiked a truck from Tanzania and the driver dropped them off at Kaphiri Trading Centre in Lilongwe. He said they wanted to travel further to South Africa to look for work.
"We found them just loitering around looking very weak because of days without food," he said.
The police publicist said the Ethiopians have since been taken to Dzaleka Refugee Camp in the central district of Dowa were other refugees and asylum seekers are kept.
The camp is run jointly by the Malawi Government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Malawi, because of its porous borders, is mainly used as a transit point for economic refugees from the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa seeking greener pastures in Africa’s big economy, South Africa.
They pay huge sums of money to middle-men who use uncharted routes from Tanzania, through Malawi and Mozambique to South Africa.--maravipost.
Source: The Maravi Post
"Yes, we have arrested these Ethiopians as they could not explain why they are in Malawi," said Central Region police spokesman John Namalenga.
Namalenga said after interrogation the Ethiopians said they had hitch-hiked a truck from Tanzania and the driver dropped them off at Kaphiri Trading Centre in Lilongwe. He said they wanted to travel further to South Africa to look for work.
"We found them just loitering around looking very weak because of days without food," he said.
The police publicist said the Ethiopians have since been taken to Dzaleka Refugee Camp in the central district of Dowa were other refugees and asylum seekers are kept.
The camp is run jointly by the Malawi Government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Malawi, because of its porous borders, is mainly used as a transit point for economic refugees from the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa seeking greener pastures in Africa’s big economy, South Africa.
They pay huge sums of money to middle-men who use uncharted routes from Tanzania, through Malawi and Mozambique to South Africa.--maravipost.
Source: The Maravi Post
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