Malawi Seeks Funding for New Refugee Camp
The minister said improved structures at the new camp would benefit refugees and surrounding communities.
LILONGWE, Malawi — Malawi's Minister of Homeland Security Kenneth Zikhale Ng’oma has called for adequate funding to build better structures at a newly identified refugee camp site in Chitipa District, writes Wezzie Mwangonde.
Ng’oma made the appeal Wednesday after meeting with the regional director for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Lilongwe.
He lamented that Dzaleka refugee camp has poorer structures compared to other camps in Africa.
The minister said improved structures at the new camp would benefit refugees and surrounding communities.
He urged UNHCR and partners to construct sturdier buildings.
“It is sad that Malawi started hosting refugees in 1994, but if you go to the camp you will see no development, no injection of resources and no buildings that could show that we are working with the international community,” Ng’oma said.
Meanwhile, UNHCR's regional director for southern Africa, Chansa Kapaya, applauded Malawi's support for refugees and asylum seekers.
She pledged further support to establish the new Chitipa camp.
Malawi opened Dzaleka camp in 1994 and currently hosts over 50,000 refugees, mainly from Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda and Somalia.