The Zambian government has said that refugees living in the country had no right to decide whether or not to return to their home countries as long their was peace in their homelands.
Therefore Home Affairs Minister Lameck Mangani told journalists on Friday that the government expected all refugees to return to their home countries once peace returned.
His comments follow a recent statement by refugees from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who have declared that they would not return to their country.
The refugees made the statement after an announcement that the refugee camps in which they have been living are earmarked for closure later this year.
Zambia has played host to thousands of refugees from neighboring DRC, Angola, Rwanda and Burundi. There are currently around 70,000 refugees from the DRC who have been living in two refugee camps in Northern Zambia.
However, with a return to peace in that country, authorities in Zambia have indicated that they would be closing the camp and urged the refugees still living there to return to their country.
But the Congolese refugees said they had no intention of returning to their country and would instead begin to settle in Zambia where they hope to begin business ventures.
This was wrong for the refugees to say when peace had returned to the DRC, the minister said, adding that the government expected all refugees to return to their countries and contribute to development efforts there.
Source African Press Agency
African News from NetNewsPublisher.com
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