Home Affairs unaware of DRC refugees’ plight

HOME Affairs Minister Rosalia Nghidinwa said her Ministry was unaware that over 40 refugees and asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were allegedly ‘not taken care of’ as a local human rights body claimed.

In a ministerial statement Minister Nghidinwa told Parliament on Tuesday that Namibia had one of the friendliest policies with regard to refugees and asylum seekers and adhered to international conventions. ‘The Ministry has learnt with concern about the 41 Congolese asylum-seekers, who fled from the Osire refugee camp assisted by the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) to Botswana without the Ministry’s knowledge and the NSHR alleged that Government was not taking care of them.’The group of DRC citizens were given protection and underwent a ‘fair and accessible procedure’ to have their refugee status determined. ‘Namibia is currently accommodating approximately 8 000 asylum-seekers from 14 different African countries and no incident of this nature ever happened (before).’’We note that UNHCR Namibia has issued a statement advising that it has no information to validate the claims made by these refugees,’ she added.According to the NSHR, the Congolese nationals had allegedly received threats to their lives in Namibia, apparently also from Government officials.The refugees are still camping a few hundred metres on the Botswana side of the joint border with Namibia.