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A refugee orphan’s “amazing” journey

    JOHANNESBURG

    A 16-year-old Burundian orphan who survived an “amazing journey” through Southern Africa has been discovered aboard a British ship after it docked at the mid-Atlantic island of St Helena, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reported on Tuesday.

    It quoted the manager of the St Helena Line, Tony Bownes, as saying Alain Hakizmana, had succeeded in avoiding detection on the ship by hiding in the top of the funnel.

    “Hakizmana apparently fled from his village near Bujumbura in Burundi when his parents, grandparents and 12 brothers and sisters were killed by Tutsi soldiers a month ago,” the SABC said. It said he had fled to South Africa by crossing into Zambia and then Mozambique before taking a lorry ride to Cape Town and stowing away.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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