The Government of Malawi has warned that it will regard all refugees and asylum seekers who were returned to Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Doŵa District and are coming back to respective communities as criminals.

Minister of Homeland Security Ken Zikhale Ng’oma has told a news conference in Lilongwe that authorities are mindful that some refugees and asylum seekers are returning back to various communities irrespective of the ongoing calling-back-to-camp exercise.

Zikhale Ng’oma added that the exercise is a continuous process, and it will be carried until the next financial year, and that all those who will be caught will be treated as outlaws.

“It’s a big exercise and continuous one, it will not stop, it’s not an operation, it’s something that is budgeted for. But for those that are returning back to communities, I don’t think they are asylum seekers. I wouldn’t describe them as such.

“They are criminals, and if we find them in the communities, we will take them straight to our prison because they are not abiding by the laws of Malawi,” he stressed.

He added that the government is currently in bilateral talks with both Burundi and Rwanda governments to process repatriation exercises for undocumented refugees and asylum seekers.

Meanwhile, authorities say they are considering closing Dzaleka Refugee Camp to all new arrivals so as to improve the management of refugees and asylum seekers that are already in Malawi.

The Homeland Security Minister has, however, disclosed that authorities are failing to identify a total of 53, 000 immigrants currently residing in different areas across the country.

“Malawians shouldn’t harbour these people because once they are found, they are doing against the law, and we want to operate within the law because we are fixing a broken system,” reiterated Zikhale Ng’oma.

Further, the government is looking for an alternative site in the Northern Region for all new arrivals as a way of decongesting Dzaleka Refugee Camp.

According to Zikhale Ng’oma, all processes of Refugee Status Determination Assessments shall be done at the border before entry like the American Government does to avoid what he called the influx of economic migrants.

As of Sunday this week, the government says it has relocated a total of 1778 refugees and asylum seekers who reported at the Camp’s reception center.