More Mozambicans seeking refuge in Zimbabwe

The Zimbabwean government said Thursday the number of Mozambican migrants seeking refuge in the country continues to rise, with 651 migrants having crossed into the country last week alone.

Since the beginning of 2016, more than 4,000 Mozambicans fleeing political unrest have crossed into neighboring Zimbabwe where some are being accommodated at Tongogara Refugee Camp while others have integrated with their relatives along the border, Public Service, Labor and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira said.

She told Xinhua in a telephone interview that the 651 migrants were all staying at Tongogara refugee camp in the southeast of the country, which is home to another 10,000 African refugees from such countries as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Ethiopia.

The minister said due to the rising number of Mozambican refugees, Zimbabwe had since engaged development partners including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to assist with food, clothes and other basic necessities.

The Zimbabwe office of the International Organization for Migration said it only offered assistance to Mozambican refugees early last year in the initial stages of the crisis before UNHCR took over.

"Currently there is nothing that we are doing to assist. We only assisted in the initial stages when people started arriving from Mozambique before UNHCR took over.

"However, we still continue to coordinate and if there are any gaps that need assistance we offer the help," said an official with the organization.

Mozambique has witnessed escalating tensions between the opposition Mozambican National Resistance movement (RENAMO) and government forces in recent years.

A series of army operations aimed at disarming RENAMO's militias in late 2015 has led to the resurfacing of political violence since the beginning of 2016, which has killed, injured and displaced Mozambicans as well as destroying public infrastructure. Endit