Monday, May 16, 2011
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Zimbabwean police have raised security concerns over the continued use of their territory by illegal immigrants from Central and East Africa in transit to South Africa. Zimbabwe Republic Police chief spokesman, Senior Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena, said 164 Somalis had tried – some successfully – to sneak into South Africa across the Limpopo River in recent weeks.
Authorities in Zimbabwe are holding 64 illegal Somali immigrants, who will likely be transferred to the country's only refugee camp, Tongogara in the east.
They were arrested at Beitbridge Border Post.
Before that, 100 of their compatriots slipped into South Africa through illegal entry points along the crocodile-infested Limpopo River.
Only a collaborative regional effort to clamp down on illegal immigrants can put this to an end, he said.
'The fact that such a big number of people had entered our territory without the necessary papers is of concern from a security point of view,' said Bvudzijena.
'Somalia is thousands of kilometers away but the Somalis manage to end up here.
'It is obvious that they passed through some countries to get here. In terms of the law, anyone seeking asylum must be held at the first foreign border he or she shows up. 'In the case of the Somalis, that was not the case.
There is a need for collaboration in SADC itself for this problem to be addressed.'
As at February, there were 4 379 refugees in Zimbabwe - 2 972 of whom are from the DRC.
There are 634 Rwandese refugees and 573 from Burundi.
South Africa's Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Zuma this week said they would tighten controls to plug the influx of illegal immigrants.
'We have to adopt a regional approach to mixed migration with a view to curbing the abuse of the asylum seeker process and ensure the issue receives the attention of the Southern African Development Community.
'We will therefore strengthen controls at our borders and ports of entry in cooperation with our neighbours.'
Source: The Southern Times