2004-02-27 00:21:48
By Peter Tindwa
Tanzania is yet to make a decision on the request made by the British Government to settle Somali refugees currently residing in the UK.
The Minister for Home Affairs, Omar Ramadhan Mapuri, said in a press statement yesterday that consultations among stakeholders were in progress, adding that the government was yet to give its decision to the British Government.
The minister was reacting to a media story yesterday saying that the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, had confirmed that the UK was in negotiation about giving Tanzania aid in exchange for taking failed asylum seekers thought to be Somalis.
“Any response must take full consideration of the magnitude and the entire range of socio-political implications on our part, including the fact that Tanzanians are already overwhelmed by the burden of refugees,” Mapuri said.
Mapuri, however, acknowledged that Tanzania had received the request from the British Government on the issue of Somali refugees living in the UK.
“Our government has also learnt that there are some alleged Tanzanian nationals in the UK who pose and continue to live as Somali refugees,” he said.
He said the British Government had proposed the repatriation of the alleged Somali refugees so that they could be screened here in Tanzania, but the latter requested that the screening be done in the UK.
The Government of Tanzania later despatched an official from the Immigration Department to the UK for identification exercise.
“The Government’s position is that if there are Tanzanian nationals pretending to be Somali refugees in the UK , they should not be expelled, but rather, returned home under normal procedures that respect human dignity,” Mapuri said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Dar es Salaam is not aware of the so called “global trade in displaced people” of Somali refugees which could enable Tanzania get a staggering 8bn/- from the United Kingdom.
Speaking to The Guardian in Dar es Salaam yesterday, through a security guard at the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency External Relations Officer, identified as Fred Mwijabe, said his office was not aware of the deal.
“We ( UNHCR) have no idea of the British/ Tanzania government plans to exchange refugees. The Ministry of Home Affairs can give precise details on the report,” Mwijage was quoted as saying.
Efforts to get comments from the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Bakari Mahiza, proved futile as the reception desk answered that he was out of his office.
Earlier reports had it that the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, had confirmed that the UK was negotiating about giving Tanzania aid in exchange for taking failed asylum seekers thought to be Somalis.
“This type of aid in exchange for failed asylum seekers between UK and Tanzania is a very bad precedent which risks starting global trade in displaced people,” a Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, was quoted by the BBC as saying.
Tanzania is currently hosting at least 800,000 refugees from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Somalia.