Dukwe refugees to stay in Botswana
A bid to forcefully repatriate the remaining Dukwe refugees currently exiled in Botswana suffered a setback when Lobatse High Court judge, Godfrey Nthomiwa, ordered they should not be deported back to Namibia.
There are over 800 refugees currently living in Dukwe that have refused to sign for voluntary repatriation.
“The respondents (the Botswana government) or anyone purporting to act on their behalf are hereby interdicted from deporting the applicants,” Nthomiwa said. Botswana's minister of defence, Shaw Kgathi, had previously announced the Dukwe refugees had to return to Namibia on 11 July or risk being classified as illegal immigrants. Nthomiwa also ordered that Botswana's immigration ministry release refugees that had earlier petitioned SADC.
The refugees were detained at the Francistown centre for illegal immigrants. Nthomiwa ordered that the detained refugees be transported back to Dukwe. Zambezi regional governor Lawrence Sampofu announced recently that about 44 Namibian refugees from Dukwe had returned to Namibia. Commissioner for refugees, Likius Valombola, added that those that had returned were reunited with their families.
“They are well reunited with their families and transported to their various villages. I wish to accentuate that all former Namibian refugees in Botswana are Namibian and they will be received with both hands in the spirit of safety and dignity and no persecution of any kind will be subjected on them,” he told a daily newspaper.
The group fled to Botswana after a failed attempt to secede the then Caprivi Region from Namibia.
The Botswana government initially planned to deport the remaining Namibians living at Dukwe by 31 December 2015.
-Additional reporting by Mmegi
OGONE TLHAGE
There are over 800 refugees currently living in Dukwe that have refused to sign for voluntary repatriation.
“The respondents (the Botswana government) or anyone purporting to act on their behalf are hereby interdicted from deporting the applicants,” Nthomiwa said. Botswana's minister of defence, Shaw Kgathi, had previously announced the Dukwe refugees had to return to Namibia on 11 July or risk being classified as illegal immigrants. Nthomiwa also ordered that Botswana's immigration ministry release refugees that had earlier petitioned SADC.
The refugees were detained at the Francistown centre for illegal immigrants. Nthomiwa ordered that the detained refugees be transported back to Dukwe. Zambezi regional governor Lawrence Sampofu announced recently that about 44 Namibian refugees from Dukwe had returned to Namibia. Commissioner for refugees, Likius Valombola, added that those that had returned were reunited with their families.
“They are well reunited with their families and transported to their various villages. I wish to accentuate that all former Namibian refugees in Botswana are Namibian and they will be received with both hands in the spirit of safety and dignity and no persecution of any kind will be subjected on them,” he told a daily newspaper.
The group fled to Botswana after a failed attempt to secede the then Caprivi Region from Namibia.
The Botswana government initially planned to deport the remaining Namibians living at Dukwe by 31 December 2015.
-Additional reporting by Mmegi
OGONE TLHAGE
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