Zambia deports 86 Somalis

[Coeus]

Zambian authorities have deported 86 Somali illegal immigrants, according to the head of the Immigration Department.

Ministry of Home Affairs chief immigration officer Justine Siame, in a media statement, said 54 Somalis had been convicted and fined by a subordinate court in northern Zambia for illegal entry into the country before their deportation.

Mr Siame said 32 other Somalis illegally entered Zambia in October this year and wanted to take advantage of the on-going re-registration of refugees at Maheba Refugee Camp in North Western Province to stay in the country.

And 11 Congolese children suspected to have been trafficked into Zambia have been found and are temporarily sheltered at an orphanage in Chililabombwe – a town bordering with the DRC, according to the Zambia Police Copperbelt Province chief, Dr Martin Malama.

According to the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) records, Zambia is a transit point for human trafficking in southern Africa as it is centrally located and surrounded by eight countries in the region.