The Chakwera government's populist decision to bus all refugees into a notorious camp is fuelling xenophobia behind thinly-veiled legalities.
At the height of the upheavals in the Great Lakes region in the mid-2000s, Burundian John Karumba [we will hide his identity for security reasons], fled first to Tanzania before ending up at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa district, 50 kilometres north of Malawi's capital, Lilongwe. Once a notorious prison where political prisoners were detained, this camp is home to over 50,000 refugees and asylum seekers, largely from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Burundi, Ethiopia and Somalia.
Karumba eventually left Dzaleka to seek his fortune in Lilongwe. Non-Malawians - mostly Burundians, Congolese and Rwandans - have opened businesses that range from supermarkets to smaller grocery shops and bars; and from grain trading to owning hotels and lodges. Karumba is one of them. Burundians and Congolese have integrated into Malawian society, marrying locals and organising a fresh start.
"I came here back in 2007. Although we suffered segregation, we integrated and eventually lived well with Malawians. My business has been thriving and I can say I settled down well. But this operation to take everyone back to Dzaleka camp is wrong. There are people who have permits and have married here. They are residents," Karumba said.
Maburundi, as all foreigners from the Great Lakes Region are pejoratively referred to, are seen as shrewd businesspeople. Offering competitive prices for their products, they have become a thorn in the side of local business.
Malawi's plan to relocate refugees and asylum seekers from urban centres to Dzaleka has sparked controversy on the question of how authorities are handling the relocation exercise. It also confirms the dilemma that governments on the African continent face as they try to balance the needs of their supporters and the obligation to refugees, especially with regard to their economic activities in the host country.
Reeling from the effects of the 2021 xenophobic riots in neighbouring South Africa, the current global economic shock as well as a devastating cyclone in March, Malawi joins other African nations that are taking a tougher stance on refugees and asylum seekers despite signing international instruments such as the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
In 1989, Malawi passed the Refugee Act which provides for the receiving, admission and treatment of refugees and the application of the international instruments. The 1994 Malawi Constitution recognizes international law and contains a Bill of Rights applicable to all people of Malawi. Despite having such a regulatory framework in place, the country continues to experience a number of challenges in relation to protection of, and assistance to, asylum seekers and refugees. This has resulted in calls for a review of existing policies, laws and practices affecting refugees.
A party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, Malawi made reservations to nine Articles of the Convention.
The United Nations Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) says the nine reservations exist only on paper. In practice, "refugees own property, have formed associations, engage in wage-earning employment and practice their professions [mainly as teachers] and some of the refugee children attend public schools." In addition, notes UNHCR, the reservation to freedom of movement "greatly hampers and affects prospects for social reliance and livelihood". The UNHCR recommends that Malawi should consider lifting the nine reservations.
Chakwera between a rock and a hard place
Three years into power, President Lazarus Chakwera urban-rural relocation of refugees back to Dzaleka Camp rolled out after the expiry of the April 15, 2023 deadline for voluntary relocation. Not surprisingly, the security forces were invited in after the deadline lapsed, arresting refugees and asylum seekers.
"You must understand that refugees have been treated according to the law. We work with neigbouring countries and the UNHCR and they abide by the rules, like they would in any other country... We want to make sure that they do not use Malawi as a transit camp to go to other countries just because they carry the name of a refugee," Chakwera told CNN.
Chakwera said it was wrong for critics to view the relocation exercise as denying refugees the right to work. "That is not what we are saying and that is not what we are doing. Otherwise, there would not be 48,000 refugees in the country."
Past the halfway mark of his tenure, Chakwera is beginning to feel the pressure to meet campaign pledges: the creation of one million jobs, financing small and medium scale businesses and improving the livelihoods of Malawian youths mired in abject poverty.
Returning the refugees back to Dzaleka seems to be a tactic to push back against perceptions that it was the government's liberal policies allowing foreigners to run businesses that is the reason Malawians remain locked out of the economy.
The indigenous businesses association in Malawi, a representation of local businesses, cheered as government relocated the refugees. It said government had delayed the exercise for far too long at the expense of local businesses.
"These foreigners have dollars and buy their products in bulk. They sell their products at cheaper prices. Our businesses suffer because customers rush to buy from these foreigners. Some of them don't even have permits. They engage in businesses that can ably be operated by Malawians. I don't blame government for relocating them. In fact, they should have been relocated way back," Christopher Maganga, a businessman in Lilongwe said.
This hardening attitude towards Maburundi is a reminder that 'Afrophobia' is a ticking time bomb in many African countries and needs urgent attention.
The Ministry of Homeland Security says the mapping exercise for refugees living outside the designated Dzaleka Camp has identified 2,000 asylum seekers. The UNHCR puts the population of people living outside the camp at 8,000.
Malawi's Minister of Homeland Security, Ken Zikhale Ng'oma said refugees or asylum seekers should not engage in businesses that can ably be operated by locals. He says there is "an influx of economic immigrants who are putting pressure on our people" by doing business here illegally.
He decried the increasing number of 'economic immigrants' masquerading as refugees, undocumented and doing business at the expense of Malawians.
"Our major concern is the influx of foreigners masquerading as refugees and monopolising small businesses such as tomato and vegetable sellers, choking small and medium scale enterprises [owned by] locals - and these are businesses that government is trying to promote," Ng'oma said. "We cannot host people who have refugee status and are, at the same time, doing business at the expense of Malawians. These people infiltrate both rural and urban locations, often without permits. Undocumented immigrants pose a threat to national security."
He claimed that there are 552 foreigners who are answerable for war crimes in their countries but are "parading themselves as refugees."
Avalanche of rebuke
Prior to the forced relocation that started on 17 May, an estimated 8,000 refugees were living across rural and urban areas of the country, according to UNHCR. To date, approximately 1,900 individuals have returned to the congested Dzaleka Camp which currently hosts over 51,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers originally established in 1994 to accommodate 12,000 refugees.
"UNHCR is fully committed to working alongside the government to promote and protect the rights of refugees and asylum seekers in Malawi and ensure the relocation process is carried out in an orderly and dignified manner," said Valentin Tapsoba, UNHCR Regional Director for Southern Africa during a meeting with President Chakwera recently.
Malawi has already identified a potential location in the northern region to establish a new settlement for refugees. Authorities have pledged to involve UNHCR in the site assessment process and collaborate to secure resources for the development of the settlement.
UNHCR has urged the government to provide exit permits to severely ill refugees, enabling them to seek treatment outside the camp, as well as to students, allowing them to resume their education in schools where they were enrolled prior to the relocation exercise.
Malawi has committed to the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) and pledged at the Global Refugee Forum in December 2019 to integrate refugee matters into its national development agenda, the UNHCR added in a statement.
As of 1 June, UNHCR had received only 15 percent of the required US$ 27.4 million to adequately support refugees and asylum-seekers in Malawi in 2023. Insufficient funding severely hampers UNHCR's ability to meet the protection assistance, and livelihood needs of refugees and asylum-seekers.
The Malawi Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC), an umbrella body of rights groups said it "vehemently condemns the actions of the government regarding the relocation of refugees from locations they have been staying and the use of arbitrary arrests as part of this process."
"These actions represent a gross violation of human rights and against international refugee law. Refugees are individuals who have fled their home countries due to several reasons that include war, ethnic, tribal and religious violence. They seek safety and protection, often leaving behind everything they know and love, in the hope of finding a better life. It is our duty as a society to extend a helping hand, show empathy, and provide sanctuary for those in need.
"Relocating refugees from cities is a heartless policy that disregards the basic principles of humanitarianism and solidarity. By moving them away from urban areas, the government is isolating and marginalizing these vulnerable individuals, denying them access to essential resources, support networks, and the opportunity to rebuild their lives.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
"This action only serves to exacerbate their suffering and perpetuate a cycle of despair. Furthermore, the use of arbitrary arrests in the process of relocation is inhuman and is an egregious violation of International Refugee Law," Gift Trapence, national chairperson of HRDC said.
The Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) also accused the government of blocking its quest to investigate alleged abuses and human rights violations against refugees and asylum seekers.
US ambassador to Malawi, David Young said: "The Rwandans, Burundians and others came here with a lot of pain in their lives. They came with the same pain as someone travelling from Mzimba or Mangochi to Cape Town and Johannesburg for greener pastures. There are hundreds of Malawians in South Africa. Do you want South Africa to push those people and send them back home?"
Three parliamentary committees - on Defence and Security; Trade and Industry; and International Relations - endorsed the action taken by the Ministry of Homeland Security.
"We have noted that action by government follows the behaviour of some refugees whose conduct in living and doing business outside designated refugee camp is inconsistent with the law that regulates refugees and asylum seekers in the country.
"What some of the refugees were doing by freely wandering around and in certain cases operating businesses without permits, was a recipe for chaos and rendered our laws on refugees almost useless," a joint parliamentary committees' statement said.
Malawi, often called the Warm Heart of Africa for the kindness of its people, has over the years attracted hordes of tourists, foreigners and expatriates. Even as the country is condemned rights groups on the plight and treatment of refugees, it won't have a serious impact on its earnings from its tourism sector as Ng'oma insists, "we are doing the right thing to rid Malawi of criminals, because some of these people have to answer war crimes in their countries."
Joseph Kayira is a seasoned Malawian journalist. Currently, Kayira is Editor for The Lamp Magazine and Together Magazine published by Montfort Media. He has also worked for several local publications. On the international level, his works have also been published by The Christian Science Monitor in the United States of America (USA); the Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) now The Humanitarian; the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa); Times of India; News Africa, Africa Briefing; http://atlantide.ilsussidiario.net/; Reuters Thomson Foundation/ Wealth of Nations and Gender Links.
