By Our Reporter
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is asking for more land from the Malawi Government to extend Dzaleka Refugee Camp in order to reduce congestion.
UNHCR Officer In-charge, Roberline Tozwen, said on Monday during the commemorations of World Refugee Day in Dzaleka in Dowa district.
She said the camp was initially supposed to keep a few refugees, but the number has increased, resulting in congestion at the camp.
“We will continue discussing with the government to see how they can allocate more land to reduce the congestion,” she said.
Tozwen added that they are also discussing with partners to increase funding to scale up activities that can benefit refugees at Dzaleka camp.
Minister of Homeland Security, Jean Sendeza agreed that her office has received complaints of congestion from the camp.
“The population of this camp has increased and is not matching with the area, there is congestion,” she said.
As government, Sendeza said, they will discuss and see how they can deal with the issue to decongest the camp.
The camp was initially supposed to host 10,000 refugees but the population has increased to over 50,000 people seeking refuge from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Somalia and Burundi among others.