UNHCR to handover Luwani Refugee Camp to govt

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) says it is ready to handover Luwani Refugee Camp infrastructure in Neno to the Malawi Government.

This follows the voluntary repatriation of about 2 852 Mozambicans from the camp who had expressed their intentions to return to their country in March last year.

The refugees were repatriated in October this year and the infrastructure to be handed over to government includes houses, a primary school, a hospital, a prison and a community radio station.

Speaking in an interview yesterday, UNHCR representative Monique Ekoko said the organisation has played a key role in recent years in maintaining the infrastructure and appealed to government to ensure it continues to do so.

She said: “We appeal to the government and the community to ensure they take care of the infrastructure. Some of these infrastructures have been there since the 1980s when we had the Mozambican refugees and by the time we came back in 2016, they were dilapidated and needed some repairs, which we did.”

In a separate interview, Minister of Homeland Security Nicholas Dausi described UNHCR’s role as commendable in providing aid to refugees.

He, however, did not specify what government would use the structures for.

Said Dausi: “As government, we will look at how best we can utilise these facilities and upgrade them to a certain standard that will benefit the people. These valuable facilities have helped a lot as the camp accommodated a substantial number of refugees from Mozambique more than any other country.”

Luwani Refugee Camp was closed in 2007, but was re-opened in March 2016 due to an influx of Mozambican refugees that fled political conflicts in their native country.