A group of 42 asylum seekers have arrived in this Southern African country from Somalia after a two month trek covering more than 2 200km with little food, water or rest, officials said on Wednesday.
The men said they were forced to continue their walk after being refused refugee status in Tanzania and Mozambique, according to Khumbo Chongwe, the commissioner of the district of Phalombe in southern Malawi.
The asylum seekers, all of whom were men aged 19 to 40, suffered fatigue and dehydration and were emaciated upon their arrival in Malawi, one of southern Africa’s poorest countries, he said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says there are about 16 000 refugees in Malawi, mainly from Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and some as far as Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Local villagers spotted the most recent arrivals late on Tuesday after they had crossed the Mozambique/Malawi border, and reported them to a nearby military camp.
Chongwe said the group had been accommodated in a local secondary school, and had been given rice porridge and other solid food.
”Now they are back on their feet,” he said.
The group apparently had left Somalia for fear of being drafted into the militia armies that rule the chaotic country, which is without effective central government, and all were unaware of fledgling peace efforts in recent months, Chongwe said.
The migrants will be transferred on Thursday to a nearby refugee camp, after playing a game of soccer against the local district administration.
”We want to show them they are welcome in the warm heart of Africa,” said Chongwe. – Sapa-AP