Govt cautions chiefs against harboring refugees

Home Affairs Minister Steven Kampyongo

Home Affairs Minister Steven Kampyongo has cautioned traditional leaders in Chienge and Nchelenge districts to stop harboring and facilitating movements of refugees without informing authorities.

Briefing journalists on the death of seven Congolese refugees who drowned after their boat capsized on Lake Mweru in Chienge, Mr. Kampyongo says to avoid similar calamities in the future, his ministry has intensified the sensitization campaign among the refugees at Kenani transit center and Mantapala rfugee settlement on the processes to be undertaken for their safe return if they intend to return home.

He notes with concern that the refugees at Kenani have been deserting the transit center without following established procedures for assisted voluntary repatriation and are filtering into neighboring villages to avoid relocation to Mantapala.

And speaking earlier when he officiated at the African, Caribbean and Pacific – European Union Migration Action Peer to Peer Meeting on Visas in Lusaka, Mr Kampyongo said with over one billion people on the move globally, the highest ever recorded in history, migration management has moved to the forefront of many States’ Agendas including Zambia.

Mr. Kampyongo says Zambia being a sending, transit and destination country in the Sub-Saharan African region is increasingly becoming a destination of choice for many migrants for tourism, business and work, among other reasons.

He states that visas are an integral part of any government’s attempt to regulate migration and that he is pleased that Zambia has been given the opportunity to host the meeting.

Mr. Kampyongo says governments can forge a common way forward on how the nations can continue to regulate migration without placing undue impediments on the free movement of persons, which is critical in the global economy in which people exist.