About 100 refugees mostly from the DRC have been demonstrating outside the UNHCR office in the Mozambican capital Maputo since Friday, complaining about conditions at the Babole refugee camp, 50 km from the city. They are demanding resettlement in the US or Europe. “We are trying our best for them to understand our position, but at the moment I see them as very reluctant to engage in dialogue,” Arcilia Barreto, UNHCR’s Head of Mission in Mozambique told IRIN. “They just want us to close the camp and resettle them immediately outside Africa.” Mozambican government representatives on Tuesday failed to persuade protesting refugees outside the UNHCR office in Maputo to return to their camp to await a resolution of the dispute. Baretto said that UNHCR had been planning to end its presence in Mozambique this year, but an influx of refugees from the DRC “has put the closures on hold”. [For more details see separate IRIN item of 1 August headlined “MOZAMBIQUE: Refugees protest outside UNHCR office”]
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