Migration News - November 1998

November 1998

• City Press (29/11) reports that Women on the Move: Gender and Cross-Border Migration to South Africa a new report by the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) suggests that female migration to South Africa, instead of being a threat can in many instances benefit the South African economy and SADC as a whole. It suggests that female migrants who come to South Africa to trade and shop should be encouraged as they make a positive contribution to the economy. The patterns of "to-and-fro" migration practiced by southern African women could serve to facilitate positive socio-economic changes in both South Africa and their home countries. The report says allowing women free temporary access to South Africa will encourage the exchange of goods, services and ideas which are all factors that drive development. The report argues that there is little to suggest that a more open migration policy will result in an unmanageable influx of women (or men) into the country and female migration to South Africa could help reduce inequalities in the region and empower women to become agents of development.

• City Press (29/11) reports an undocumented migrant who was arrested and detained at Lindela Repatriation Center after a Lindela Security guard who accompanied the detainees to Park station in Johannesburg took a bribe from her. The woman, ‘Lindiwe’, not her real name said "I was arrested for being an illegal immigrant and taken to a local police station. I was held for four days before being taken to Lindela – which is guarded by security guards who are not accountable to anyone. Unless you happen to have a few hundred rands on you when you are arrested you will not survive in Lindela. The guards demanded cold drinks and cigarettes from male detainees. If they don’t have the money to buy these items, the guards beat them unmercifully". "Detainees are hopelessly underfed. We are fed with a cup of soup, which was like filthy dishwater, and given a stale piece of bread. Sleeping on a bed with filthy blankets was also a nightmare. The showers do not work.

• SAPA-IPS (Johannesburg 27/11) reports that even in Africa where refusal of entry to refugees was unprecedented, the door is slowly being closed, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). At a two-day conference (Nov 25-26) on the challenges facing refugees and asylum seekers in Southern Africa, participants listened to a litany of examples where nations are no longer tolerant to those escaping conflict and political persecution in their own countries. "Refugees are faced with a wall of intolerance, resistance and treatment falling critically short of the standards mandated by international human rights and refugee law," the conference noted in a statement. "Many have been denied refugee status, or indeed any status before the law." The seminar attempted to answer questions such as why refugees are increasingly being viewed as threats to national security; why the language of 'national interests' has become so decisive in refugee discourse; and why there has been a dramatic erosion in the credibility of asylum-protection. This year alone, more than 10 refugees have been killed in South Africa which is witnessing a violent wave of xenophobia. Illegal immigrants - refugees are often lumped in the same category - are blamed for all social ills ranging from crime, unemployment and the spread of disease in their adopted countries. "It is cause for concern that in countries currently developing refugee legislation, as is the case for South Africa, or those whose legislation is being reviewed, as in Botswana, Malawi, and Zimbabwe, stricter regimes are clearly being favoured by governments," the UNHCR's Southern Africa director, Nicolas Bwakira, told the conference.

• Business Day (26/11) reports that according to Mike Oliver of Sibson and Company, an international corporate remuneration company, South African companies had to consider creative salary packages to stop skilled staff seeking more money abroad. The global labour market was very competitive, with highly skilled individuals in great demand world-wide. Labour was becoming increasingly mobile, as witnessed by the ease with which South African Charted Accountants obtained position overseas. South Africa is extremely vulnerable to the brain drain phenomenon because of the relative weakness of the rand in the international market as well as the belief many individuals hold that the quality of life is better in other countries. "The risks are higher in South Africa, so the return has to be more attractive. Even if employers cannot control social factors, they do have a variety of options when it comes to structuring creative packages, which will help them retain top staff. An incentivised financial package is important because many top earners believe they will earn more overseas. However, research has proven that managers can also positively influence staff by providing a stimulating, positive work environment, career growth opportunities and a transparent and ethical company structure.

• Corinna Schuler reports in an article entitled Black Migrants Not Welcome for the National Post (20/11) that the alarming rise in xenophobia began with the end of apartheid. While the election of a black government has some white professionals on the run, African migrants now flock to South Africa in record numbers. Despite its many problems, South Africa is the most developed country on a poverty-stricken continent - paradise to people who are fleeing economic hardships, war and political repression.

• Corinna Schuler, in an article entitled Crime Hastens White Flight for Survival for the National Post (20/11) reports that since South Africa's first black-led governemnt came to power four years ago, its citizens have been emigrating at a rate of nearly 10,000 a year - resulting in the country's longest period of population loss since the Second World War and that's only the offical rate. The statistics prove that thousands more - eager to avoid the tax man, reams of red tape or foreign exchange barriers - never officially report their departure.

• Business Day (19/11) reports that almost one-fifth of South Africa’s charted accountants are living and working overseas and up to 80% of these may have emigrated permanently. Of the total of 17,591 SA charted accountants belonging to the South African Institute of Charted Accountants (Siaca), 3,297 are absentee members living and working overseas. The institute could not say whether the accountants overseas had emigrated because "they do not tell us". Siaca said some CAs left South Africa to experience working overseas for one or two years before returning. It said that over the past five years, the number of absentee members had increased each year.

• SAPA (Gaborone 19/11) reports that a total of 718 Namibians have entered Botswana illegally since a secessionist plot in the Caprivi was uncovered by the Namibian government, the Botswana government said on Thursday. Some of the refugees are San Bushmen while others are members of a separatist group seeking the secession of the Caprivi Strip from Namibia. Their fate has not yet been decided. The San say they are fleeing patrols of the Namibian Defence Force searching for the separatists. "We have a problem with the question which is now consistently being asked about the Bushmen. The people we have are Namibian nationals, they are not divided into ethnic groups and their total is 718," Botswana presidential spokesman Andrew Sesinyi said. Sesinyi said Botswana was taking advice from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees into account in dealing with the situation. Both Botswana and Namibia are signatories to the UN Convention on Refugees and Asylum Seekers. He denied reports that Botswana has agreed to extradite the separatists. "The laws of the two countries will apply to those who are found to have committed criminal offences," Sesinyi said. Whilst there is no specific extradition treaty between the two countries, a Commonwealth agreement makes provision for the return of criminals between member states.

• SAPA (Johannesburg 18/11) reports that the SA Human Rights Commission should probe alleged abuses in prisons, police lock-ups and detention centres for undocumented migrants rather than racism in the media, Democratic Party Gauteng leader Peter Leon said on Tuesday. SAHRC chairman Barney Pityana had demanded co-operation from the media on pain of prosecution, but the commission did not look into issues within its core competence, he charged. In the past year, Leon said, he had requested the commission investigate several matters. These included alleged abuse of "illegal immigrants" at the Lindela accommodation centre on the West Rand. The centre is run for the Home Affairs Department by a trust connected with senior African National Congress Women's League members, including Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Lindiwe Sisulu. "In any normal democracy, a statutory human rights commission would object strenuously to such an apparent conflict of interest, not to mention preventing the ongoing abuse of detainees," said Leon. He had asked the SAHRC to look into the conditions at the Alexandra police station lock-up and other police lock-ups, some of which were unfit for human habitation. The conditions that prisoners were kept in at maximum security prisons was another area needing investigation. "Information in my possession indicated that these prisoners are badly treated - as badly as ANC prisoners in the 1960s."The only difference is that we are now supposed to be a constitutional democracy," he added.

• IPS (Harare 16/11) reports that border jumpers in search of a better life face heavy risks, as the recent death of 18 Zimbabweans reveals. The group suffocated in an unventilated trailer of a lorry passing through Botswana on the way to South Africa. Last year dozens of Zimbabweans drowned while trying to cross the flooded Limpopo river. Others were killed and robbed by marauding gangsters who hate the influx of foreigners, especially Zimbabweans, who are nicknamed "Makwerekwere," meaning unwanted nationals. South Africa has introduced strict requirements for visas, including proof that applicants have at least US$150 in cash. South Africa deported more than 30,000 illegal Zimbabwean immigrants last year, while 15,000 were "force marched" home between January and August this year. Many Zimbabweans working illegally are treated inhumanely by their employers. A rape victim, Linda Ncube from Tsholotsho in Matabeleland North province, said many women who are raped by their employers are afraid to go to the police as they might be harassed or even killed by their employers and could be deported. "Employers in South Africa take advantage of our desperation and abuse us. The employers become angry and violent if you try to resist. We have lost our beloved ones and every day a woman is either raped or killed," said Ncube. Margret Matura from Rusape told of how she was raped by a police constable after she had gone to the police station to lodge an assault charge against her employer. "The police officer raped me in broad daylight and he threatened to kill me if I intended to report the matter. In South Africa Zimbabwean women are greatly at risk of being raped and there is nowhere one can report a case." Many illegal Zimbabwean immigrants are in South African prisons. It is alleged that they are often convicted without trial.

• SAPA (Pretoria 16/11) reports that the type of brain drain hitting South Africa has already taken its toll in other African states, says Deputy President Thabo Mbeki. The best brains - such as engineers and mathematicians - were leaving the continent, Mr. Mbeki said. At least, Mr. Mbeki said, some of the intellectuals who were leaving other parts of Africa came to South Africa. "At least they come here, and they are still applying their brainpower to Africa's problems," he said. Mr. Mbeki also lambasted the quality of an education system that kept on producing a large number of graduates in humanities whom industry and commerce had no place for. "The story of (students graduating in) biblical studies must change. This is a challenge that is facing the Ministry of Education, a challenge to change the quality of education and training, a challenge to produce the kind of person that we need to build a modern South Africa."

• The Argus (13/11) reports the government will take a tough line against "chancers" trying to use new refugee laws to put down roots in South Africa. The Refugee Bill, the first legislation of its kind in this country, gives effect to South Africa’s obligations in international law and the rights in the 1996 Constitution. Deputy minister of Home Affairs, Lindiwe Sisulu said in a debate on the bill that more than 47,000 people who had applied for refugee status in South Africa since 1994, only about 7,000 had been admitted. Applications had come from citizens of 107 countries , but only those from nine of these countries had been approved. People had exploited the application process to try to stay in the country, which was why the bill set up mechanisms to prevent this sort of abuse. In the meantime, there was a backlog of about 26,000 cases, higher than in many other countries. Responding to criticisms that the Government was admitting refugees in return for the shelter given to African National Congress members during apartheid years, Ms Sisulu said this was untrue, and that refugee status was accorded in terms of international conventions. Refugees had a right to sanctuary and to be treated with dignity, she said.

• SAPA (12/11) reports the first refugee draft legislation ever to pass through South Africa's Parliament was unanimously approved in the National Council of Provinces on Thursday. Introducing debate on the Refugee Bill, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said it established a balance between international and national humanitarian goals and the interests of South Africa. Following the establishment of a refugee determination system in 1994, South Africa had received 47,612 applications, of which only 7,927 were recognized as refugees, she said. Sisulu said the system enshrined in the bill met the standards of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. The bill has already been approved by the National Assembly and will now go to President Nelson Mandela for signature before being enacted.

• SAPA-AP (Ivory Coast 11/11) reports the first of five boatloads of Liberians returning to their homeland has departed the Ivory Coast under a U.N. repatriation program, U.N. officials said. The 179 Liberians boarded a boat in the Ivorian port of San Pedro on Monday for Monrovia, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported Tuesday. Four other sea trips to transport another 2,000 refugees were planned for this month, the statement said. Over 20,000 Liberians have returned home from the Ivory Coast so far under the UNHCR program. But last month, the U.N. reported that over 4,000 Liberians arrived in Ivory Coast in a fresh exodus following a clash between a former rebel leader and government troops.

• SAPA-AFP (Gaborone 11/11) reports that Botswana cannot cope with the flood of Namibians illegally entering the country and will appeal for outside help, a government official said Wednesday. About 393 Namibians, including women and children, are now in the country and congesting the prisons where they were being held, said Andrew Sesinyi, political affairs official in the president's office. Many of the Namibians were heavily armed when they arrived and claimed to be members of the Caprivi Liberation Army, seeking the secession of the Namibia's northeastern Caprivi strip. Sesinyi said: "This is a problem we do not want. We did not expect this sort of thing to happen and a million-pula (dollar) question is where we are going to put them." UNHCR representative Mengesha Kebede told AFP Wednesday the organisation would propose that some of the refugees be accommodated in its northern Dukwi refugee camp. Namibian President Sam Nujoma has branded the men "terrorists" and called for them to be extradited to stand trial for treason in their home country. The Botswana government has declined to comment on whether it will accede to Nujoma's request, saying the status of the refugees still needs to be assessed with the help of the UNHCR. Over 100 border jumpers, including former leader of Namibia's official opposition Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) Meshack Muyongo, have already been charged for illegally entering the country and possessing weapons of war.

• SAPA (Pretoria 11/11) reports that the number of "Illegal immigrants" arrested in September and October numbered more than 11,000. The SANDF said it spent more than 544 hours in anti-crime operations and another 544 in humanitarian missions during the two months.

• Xinhua (Dar es Salaam 11/11) reports that Tanzania has granted citizenship to more than 1,000 foreigners from 33 countries over the past four years, with the majority of them from Burundi, Deputy Home Affairs Minister John Mgeja said Wednesday. Since 1995, a total of 531 Burundians have been naturalized, followed by people from India and Uganda, each with 190. Others are from Somalia with 166 people, Yemen with 27, Pakistan 26, Kenya and Rwanda, 25 respectively, Greece 11, as well as Britain, 10, and Ethiopia, 9, reports reaching here said. One stateless people was also given citizenship over the period under review, said Mgeja, who was answering a question at the National Assembly by a member of parliament in the central city of Dodoma. Mgeja said the government uses various organs such as police, national intelligence and the immigration in scrutinizing applicants. At the same time, he called on the public to cooperate in finding out problems in immigration exercise by airing opinions.

• SAPA (Cape Town 10/11) reports that border posts between South Africa and Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia are to adjust their operating hours following an announcement on Tuesday that as from November 16, South Africa will start collecting VAT on goods imported from these countries. The adjusted hours of operation were necessary to accommodate concerns raised by South Africa's neighbours, the South African Revenue Services (Sars) said in a statement. Finance Minister Trevor Manuel would meet his counterparts from the four countries in Pretoria on Thursday, to discuss a report on the proposed changes and the manner in which administrative concerns will be addressed. "It is the intention of the minister of finance... to obtain agreement for measures in respect of both exports and imports to be implemented on November 16," Sars said. Sars announced it had set up a new helpline to answer queries.

• PANA (Nigeria 09/11) reports some 273 Nigerians have been deported from neighbouring Benin for staying in the country without valid residence permits, the News Agency of Nigeria reported Monday. The agency said the latest repatriation brings to 773 the number of Nigerians deported by the Benin government in two weeks. It said 500 Nigerians were deported to the border town of Seme two weeks ago. They were brought in seven lorry-loads by Beninois gendames (mobile police) and handed over to Nigerian immigration officers. The deportees said they were picked up by the gendames in various markets and on the streets and detained for 10 days before being deported. A deportee, Abel Oyekan, said he was arrested on the day he arrived in Cotonou and detained for five days. He said that his travel documents were seized by the gendames. The Economic Community of West African States protocol on free movement of persons allows West African migrants to stay in member states for a maximum of three months at a time. But citizens of Nigeria and Benin, and in fact west Africans who share common cultural links, live in each others territories permanently, oblivious of the provisions of the protocol.

• REUTERS (Brussels 07/11) reports that Nigeria's foreign minister on Saturday called on Europe to recognize its historical debt to Africa and adopt a more flexible policy on immigration. Visiting European Commission officials a little over a week after the EU relaxed economic sanctions against his country, Ignatius Olisemeka said it was time to forget "a regrettable past" and look to a future built on increasing cooperation. "I want to see a more flexible approach on immigration...we have never shut our doors against you." Nigeria's relations with Belgium were strained in September following the death of a Nigerian asylum seeker while police were trying to deport her by force. Her death triggered waves of protest and the resignation of Interior Minister Louis Tobback. Olisemeka played down the incident as a one-off. "It was an aberration, regrettable though it was." he said. The EU dropped diplomatic and sporting sanctions against Nigeria at the end of last month as a reward for the country's moves towards democracy. General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who took power in June, has freed many political prisoners and vowed to restore democracy by May next year. "Developments in Nigeria have taken such a remarkable turn that we should be looking more to the future...the world seems to be responding to that," Olisemeka said.

• Joyce Namutebi reports for New Vision (07/11) that drug traffickers, convicts, destitutes and persons with mental defects will not be allowed to enter Uganda, the Uganda Citizenship and Immigration Control Bill 1998 states. The Bill, before the parliament committee on defence and internal affairs provides for the acquisition of citizenship of Uganda in accordance with the Constitution and compulsory registration of all Ugandans. It also provides for national identification numbers, national identity cards to Ugandans, regulation of passports and other travel documents to persons who qualify and regulation and control of aliens in Uganda. According to Clause 52 of the Bill, prohibited immigrants whose entry or presence within the country is unlawful except in accordance with the provisions of this Act include; destitutes and those suffering from mental disorder or defects. Persons who refuse to submit to a medical examination after being required to do so and those certified by a Government medical practitioner to be suffering from a contagious or infectious disease, are also prohibited from entering Uganda. Persons facing deportation orders, those without valid passports or documents of identity, drug traffickers living or who, prior to entering Uganda, were living on the earning of drugs, undesirable immigrants, any persons convicted of any offence are also prohibited. The Bill requires citizens of or above 18 years to apply for national identity card.

• Xinhuan (Maputo 07/11) reports that twenty-five Tanzanians, illegally residing in the northern Mozambican province of Nampula, have been repatriated by the immigration authorities of Mozambique. Jose Weng San, police commander of the Nampula Province, revealed this Friday in Nampula city, the Noticias newspaper reported Saturday. The Tanzanians were detained in the suburbs of Nampula city where many foreigners reside illegally, he said. These foreigners without legal certificates are often involved in criminal activities, such as drug trafficking and consumption, theft and robbery, he added.

• SAPA (National Assembly 06/11) reports that the Refugee Bill, which establishes a system for the regulation of asylum seekers, was unanimously approved in the National Assembly on Friday. The bill establishes refugee reception offices, where refugee status determination officers will determine the status of applicants. A standing committee for refugee affairs will have the power to review the decisions of determination officers and advise the minister on matters referred to it. The bill further establishes a refugee appeal board to hear and determine appeals. In terms of the bill, a refugee - once recognised - enjoys full legal protection and basic rights, and is entitled to work and enjoy basic social rights.

• City Press (06/11) reports that stricter government policies and practices regarding refugees and asylum seekers are emerging in southern Africa. This was the message given by the UNHCR Director of Southern African Operations, Nicolas Bwakira, who addressed delegates at a symposium on challenges to the Institute of Asylum Seekers and Refugee Protection in Pretoria. The symposium follows the recent approval of South Africa’s Refugee Bill by the National Assembly. According to a Sapa report, the Bill stipulates that a refugee, once recognised, enjoys full legal protection and basic rights, including the entitlement to work. "More and more countries are insisting on quartering refugees and asylum-seekers in camps, regardless of the fact that the numbers might be relatively small and containable in the urban centers", said Bwakira. He added that successive refugee crisis in southern Africa and elsewhere had fostered an increasing perception of refugees as an economic, social, environmental and political burden and that countries perceived the rights of refugees as a threat to State interests. Bwakira said that while southern Africa had relatively few asylum-seekers and refugees, they still faced intolerance, resistance and treatment falling short of the standards mandated by the international human rights and refugee law.

• Dar es Salaam (Xinhua 05/11) reports that Tanzanian Vice-President Omar Ali Juma has warned that the government will not hesitate to repatriate any refugees found behaving contrary to the existing regulations for their stay in the country. Juma issued such warnings Wednesday in several public rallies he addressed in the Ngara district in Tanzania's northwestern region of Kagera in response to complaints made by local residents that refugees are causing problems. The commissioner of the district, Evans Balama, said that crimes committed by refugees are creating fears among local residents. Balama added that unlawful refugees have caused deaths and forced 300 residents in the district to escape their houses, according to reports reaching here. The vice-president, however, urged local residents not to hate all foreign refugees as most of them abide by laws and have come to Tanzania to escape fighting in their motherland. Tanzania is playing host to the refugees to fulfill its humanitarian causes and international obligations, he added. At present, Kagera District hosts more than 110,000 refugees from Burundi.

• SAPA (05/11) reports that Deputy Home Affairs Minister Lindiwe Sisulu-Guma said the Refugee Bill established a balance between international and national humanitarian goals and the interests of South Africa. Introducing debate on the bill, she said a clear distinction should be drawn between migration for economic or social reasons and flight motivated by fear of persecution. A substantial number of "illegal immigrants" abused the system to stay and work in South Africa, placing unnecessary pressure on authorities and delaying genuine applications. "Provision has been made in the bill to fast track manifestly unfounded and fraudulent claims." The majority of applications fell into this category, Sisulu said. Since the refugee determination system was established in 1994, South Africa had received 47,612 applications, of which only 7,927 were recognized as refugees. In terms of the bill, a refugee, once recognized, enjoyed full legal protection and basic rights, and was entitled to work and enjoy basic social rights, Sisulu said. The bill, which is the first refugee legislation ever to be enacted in South Africa, received the support of all sides of the House. Desmond Lockey (ANC) said too many South Africans did not understand the country's obligation to provide protection to refugees. They also did not understand the difference between illegals and genuine asylum seekers. This could be one of the reasons for the widespread xenophobia. Dene Smuts (DP) said the bill was written to reflect and enable the fulfillment of South Africa's international and constitutional obligations, and did so excellently.

• SAPA (Nelspruit 05/11) reports that former Mozambican war refugees living in South Africa would be given a chance to become permanent South African citizens by means of a new pilot programme launched in Mpumalanga. The three-phase programme will also offer the estimated 250,000 former refugees still living in the country an opportunity to return to Mozambique if they wanted to. Less than one quarter of those who illegally fled into South Africa to escape civil war in Mozambique in the 1980s were expected to want to return. Mozambicans who arrived in South Africa after 1993 will not qualify for the project. The initiative is primarily designed to normalise the legal status of former war refugees, but project coordinators stressed that they also planned to tackle growing xenophobia in South Africa by rewarding communities that welcomed the refugees. Villages with high numbers of refugees who choose South African citizenship will be granted funds to build new schools, clinics and water pumps. Both the Mpumalanga administration and the Mozambican government also pledged their support for the project on Thursday.

• Jonathan Crush reports in an article entitled Mending Our Fences in the Sowetan (04/11) that a recent study of Zimbabwean migrants, conducted by the Southern African Migration Project surveyed a national sample of Zimbabweans for information about their past migration and attitudes towards immigration to South Africa. Contrary to the stereotype that Zimbabweans migration to South Africa is a new thing, the survey discovered that a quarter of Zimbabwean adults have already been to South Africa. What’s more, 25 percent have parents and 24 percent have grandparents who have been to South Africa. This suggest’s that the movement of ordinary people between the two countries is longstanding and relatively consistent. Another common stereotype in South Africa is that all migrants are young, single, poorly educated males. The survey found that nearly 40 percent of the migrants were women, a quarter, were over 45 years old; 73 percent were married; 42 percent had jobs in Zimbabwe and over half had been to school, with six percent having been to university. South Africans tend to assume that all migrants want to come and stay in their country. However, on their last visit, 71 percent of Zimbabweans stayed for less than a month and only seven percent for more than a year. Only a tiny minority, six percent, said they would try to move permanently to South Africa. The South Africa media also assumes that all Zimbabweans in South Africa are "illegal immigrants" who scrambled under the fence or waded across the Limpopo. In fact, 89 percent of immigrants obtained a passport and 72 percent a visa before they came. The vast majority came by bus or taxi or through proper border posts. What about the job issue? Aren’t they taking them from South Africans? In fact, only 29 percent had come to work or look for work. Many of the other came to buy and sell gods (21 percent), shop (21 percent) and visit family and friends (13 percent). We also know that while some Zimbabweans might be taking jobs, others are creating them. One survey of traders and small entrepreneurs found that these enterprises are actually making jobs for South Africa.

• Electronic Mail and Guardian (03/11) reports that Angola is deporting nearly 300 Senegalese fishermen arrested last month for illegal fishing off its coast from a Honduran-registered boat. A total of 146 fishermen, mostly from Saint Louis in northern Senegal, arrived in Dakar on Monday aboard a special flight. Another 137 Senegalese arrested on the same boat are still expected in Dakar. In addition to the Senegalese, a Guinean, six South Koreans and three Chinese were among the crew, and all have been repatriated. The boat, stopped 26 nautical miles off the Angolan coastline, belongs to a Spanish shipbuilder, Hanam Fishers, had a South Korean captain and no fishing agreement with Angola, according to the fisheries ministry.

• AANA (Lilongwe 02/11) reports that the Malawi government has denied refugee status to 13 illegal Arab immigrants who were arrested two weeks after the simultaneous bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in which over 250 people were killed and about 5,000 injured. The 13 Arab nationals were arrested for entering Malawi using fake travel documents similar to those of a Kenyan arrested in connection with the bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Commissioner of Refugees, Humphrey Nthara, disclosed that the 13 "illegal immigrants" had breached the laws of Malawi on refugees which stipulates that all those who seek such status should apply immediately upon arrival in the country. Nthara said it was strange that the Arabs did not bother to apply for refugee status when they first entered Malawi. He added that even though they have not yet been approached on the issue, there is no way the Arabs would be granted refugee status in Malawi.

Updated April 20, 1999