Malawi authorities have raided the homes and businesses of refugees and asylum seekers operating in the capital, Lilongwe to force them to relocate to a camp some 40km (25 miles) north of the city.
Officers from the Malawi police and the department of immigration rounded up more than 300 refugees and asylum seekers mostly from Burundi and Ethiopia and are currently holding them jail, while waiting for their relocation to the Dzaleka refugee camp.
Malawian laws prohibit refugees and asylum seekers from staying outside a refugee camp.
Homeland Security Minister Ken Zikhale Ng’oma has in the past said there’s no reason for the refugees to leave their designated camp which he said “has facilities that meet international standards including primary and secondary schools, a health centre and a public market”.
The refugees, however, disagree saying they prefer to live inside the city, away from the camp where there are better business opportunities and schools for their children.
In April last year, two refugees obtained a court order stopping the government from forcibly relocating them.
At the time, the Malawi high court ordered a hearing between the government and the refugees to amicably agree on a way forward.
No agreement was reached and the government continued to push for the relocation, leading to Wednesday’s action.
National police spokesperson Peter Kalaya said the exercise had gone well.
The challenge that remains now is finding enough space for the refugees and asylum seekers at the already crowded camp.
The country’s sole refugee camp has capacity to hold just over 10,000 people, but is already home to more than 50,000 refugees from Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
