Malawi Police arrest 169 Ethiopians
Malawi Police at Lumbadzi in Lilongwe have arrested 169 Ethiopian refugees who were attempting to escape from Dzaleka refugee camp in Dowa.
This is the fourth time in three months police have arrested such a huge number of Ethiopians trying to flee the country using unlawful means. Most of these Ethiopians enter the country using unchartered routes in Northern districts of Malawi.
Lumbadzi Police Officer-in-Charge Effie Sato said the Ethiopians were arrested on Tuesday after getting a tip from the public who became suspicious with huge group of strange people.
“The refugees were taking a rest at a Chinese shop and some people got fishy with them and reported to our office,” said the Lumbadzi police boss.
The refugees are said to have carried maize and water and were reportedly heading for Zimbabwe.
“We are currently facilitating to take them back to the camp. We arrested them because they had no travel documents,” said the Officer-in-Charge.
According to Sato, one of the refugees, who was the only one who could communicate in English, said they decided to flee the camp because they are encountering myriad hitches at the camp like poor diet and sanitation.
The refugee also explained that five of their countrymen have died this year due to poor diet and healthy facilities and were buried right there.
Over 600 Ethiopian Refugees have been arrested this year alone for attempting to escape the camp for greener pastures in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Two weeks ago, group and village headmen surrounding Dzaleka Refugee camp asked government to urgently find means of instilling discipline among the Ethiopian asylum seekers.
The development came after the foreigners invaded Mengwe village in the area of T/A Chikukula where they stole maize while the owners were busy attending a funeral.
Group Village Headman Mengwe warned that if government does not do anything they would take law into their own hands because they were tired with the rotten behaviour of the Ethiopians.
The Ethiopians are said to be fighting indigenous Malawians, raping girls and old women and stealing from the surrounding villages, among others.
“We want government to take action urgently because we have been patient enough with these foreigners and the situation is now getting out of hand.
“People are living in fear in their own country because the Ethiopians are not only invading the villages during the day but also night, a situation that poses danger to their lives and property. If government is not assisting us we have the means to deal with the situation ourselves,” said the angry village, whose area is well known for gule wankulu cult.
There are currently over 8000 asylum seekers at Dzaleka camp from various countries like Somalia, Burundi, DRC, Rwanda, Djibouti but the Ethiopians are said to be the most nuisance.
Tagged with: Dzaleka, Ethiopians
Gorvernment has to do something to deal with this paganism, otherwise, xenophobia will take its action. If they misbehave, more especially to the municipalities, why sparing them. Just let them go where they were heading. Don’t worry about traveling documents, how did they come into this country?
The more you bring them back to the camp, the more the trouble they gonna make.
I am glad that the natives are ready to eleminate anything that insults their souls. If government delays to do something, pull the trigger.
For your information, these people are not at all Ethiopians. Most of them are Eritreans mascareding as Ethiopians. I happen to be in Ethiopia, yes near Eritrea and I know how these people are running away from their country to avoid being recruted into the Eritrean Army.
Thank you brother for spotting the error made here, they are ERITREANS and mostly SOMALIS, all posing like Ethiopians whenever it suites them.
O minisitala wa Home Affairs Ni ozawo wa Foreign Affairs, Honeymoon ithere pamenepa. Thamangitsani magulu onse ovutitsa obale wathu ku Lumbadziko. Ife wathu malefujizi anakanthidwa ku Zudi uko. Tso’ chitamponi kanthu mwa changu nafe tisanaseme mbalamatodya!!!
Good comment odala! keep it up
Gule kwao
Really, I wonder about these Ethiopians??? If they want to leave the country for South Africa let them go. Above all they have got their own expensive Ethiopian Airways.Let them go and leave our peaceful country. Let them also learn how to solve their problems back home.
FOOD IS LIFE SO PLASE ASSINT OUR FELLOW AFRICANS IT IS NOT THEIR WILL TO FACE THAT LIFE, THINK IF IT WAS YOU IF THE GOVERMENT IS FAILNG TO PROVIDE FOOD FOR THEM WE AREA CHRISTIAN WHOM TO HELP AMALAWI MUPHA ANTHU OSALAKHA NJALA CHILOMBO MAWA NDINU
Come on, heading for zimbabwe for greener pastures? Are you kidding me?
These people are not ethiopians. they are eritreans pretending to be ethiopians.
i know them in kenya and they come to kenya as refugee and they change their identity from eritrean to ethiopian.
so they are not ethiopians
Ethiopians are also humans like any of us, I was at Ethiopia Hotel one other time. I, then, decided to take a walk, though the hotel manager told me to be very careful to walk in Addis streets…I did not bother since I knew I was in Africa anyway (my continent and all my peoples will not do bad to me).
I went to where Africa Union (AU) is, formerly Organization of African Unity (OAU) HQ close to former Emperor H.S Compound.
My nice Ethiopian guide said to me…Malawi has a street name here! And he went on to say, since Ethiopia gave this land to all OAU African nations for free, why don’t these countries pay for the up-keep of their street names in Addis?
I said to him…the UN HQ (in New York) is also a free ground for all of us on the Planet to discuss things (No country pays for the lease for the grounds and the buildings thereof)
Even one of the Canadian ministers went to the grounds, with a fishing net when the Spaniards invaded Canada with their fishing boats in Canadian waters!!!
Let us treat each other better all the times.
Ethiopians are light skinned and they look at themselves as superior to the darker Africans. In Adis Ababa when you give a light skinned Ethiopian beggar (masikini) some money he kneels down and prays for forgivenees. Oh God forgive me for I have accepted a gift from a black Bantu person