Over 500 refugees and asylum seekers currently residing at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa have applied for a voluntary repatriation, Malawi’s Ministry of Homeland Security has confirmed.
The Senior Administrative and Operations Manager in the Department of Refugee Affairs, Hilda Katema, has disclosed that it is financially constrained to facilitate the repatriation.
Katema made the sentiments at the Kamuzu International Airport on Sunday afternoon when officials from her department, together with officials from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), were escorting a six-member Burundian family.
The six Burundians have brought to 316 the number of refugees and asylum seekers who have voluntarily returned to their native countries since the start of the programme in July 2023.
“We have a number of refugees that would want to be repatriated back to their countries. But due to financial constraints, we are able to find resources to repatriate them,” said Katema, “We have over 500 individuals that would want to return back, about 104 families that are ready to be repatriated, but their repatriation is subject to availability of funds.”
Katema disclosed that the department has over 3, 000 euros to repatriate a six-member Burundian family. UNHCR provided the financial support for the tickets of the six.
“So since we started July last year, we’ve repatriated a total with these six, it will be a total of 316 individuals. And of these 315 have gone back to Burundi, and we had, in our fifth, sixth convoy, one member that went back to Somalia. So we’re very pleased that there is some progress. And then in the next few days, we also have one convoy, our first convoy in the year to Rwanda,” said Katema.
“So right now, we have individuals willing to return, both from Burundi, a few from Rwanda, and also some from DRC, which we critically have to analyze, because our arrangement is that we have the repatriation must be voluntary, and we must return them in safety and dignity. So we have to make sure that they will be received and that their life will not be in danger,” she further explained.
In a brief interview before his departure at Kamuzu International Airport, the father of the repatriated Burundian family, Mbonerana Erasito, expressed gratitude to the Government of Malawi for facilitating his repatriation.
“I am very very happy to return to my country after staying in Malawi for the past 10 years. I have decided to return to Burundi because things have changed in my country; my life is no longer in danger if I return. When I left, there was violence, but now, there is peace,” said Erasito.