Zimbabwe on Sunday announced that it would conduct a 12-day audit in October to ascertain the number and status of refugees living in the country.
In a joint statement released Sunday, Zimbabwe’s Commissioner for Refugees, Isaac Mukaro, and UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) representative, Hepie Marcellin, said the exercise would record, verify and update details of foreign nationals granted asylum and refugee status by the country.
The exercise would run from 6-17 October at a refugee transit center in the capital Harare and at Tongogara Refugee Camp located 300km northeast of the capital.
Zimbabwe has a large refugee population comprised mostly of fellow African nationals from Nigeria, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia.
Some of the refugees use Zimbabwe as a launch pad for greener pastures in the continent’s economic powerhouse, South Africa.
Source African Press Agency
