LILONGWE, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Malawian government says it will bring to book any citizen who will be found meddling with the process of relocating refugees and asylum seekers who are illegally staying and operating business outside Dzaleka Refugees Camp, their designated place.
Malawian police and the department of immigration on Tuesday raided residences and businesses of refugees and asylum seekers in Lilongwe, Malawi's capital, where about 400 suspects were detained.
The exercise followed the expiry of an ultimatum that the Malawian government issued for all refugees and asylum seekers living outside Dzaleka Refugees Camp to voluntarily return to the camp by April 15 or risk forced relocation.
Malawian government has come under heavy criticism for implementing the exercise which local human rights activists have described as unjust.
A statement released Saturday signed by the Secretary for Homeland Security Oliver Kumbambe, however, said government would continue with the exercise in all parts of the country and he had since warned Malawians against meddling with the process in any way.
"Government is aware that some Malawians are harboring illegal immigrants and shielding them from law enforcers, an act which is an interference with the law," said Kumbambe. "The Ministry wishes to reiterate that any individual found meddling with this process will be brought to book."
According to the statement, 408 suspected refugees and asylum seekers were rounded up in the Tuesday exercise and they were temporarily kept at Maula Prison, one of the biggest correctional facility in Lilongwe. Upon screening them for papers, 152 who had valid refugee's and asylum seeker's documentation were returned to Dzaleka Camp, while seven individuals who had valid permits were released.
The exercise is said to be in line with Malawi's encampment policy which prohibits refugees from staying outside a refugee camp.
Dzaleka Refugee Camp, which is 40 km northeast of Lilongwe, was established by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1994 to accommodate refugees and asylum seekers from the Great Lakes region. The Camp was meant to accommodate 10,000 people but it is currently accommodating more than 50,000 people from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Somalia. ■
