Mozambique : eight Burundians threatened with being sent to prison

Eight Burundian nationals have been detained in a Mozambican police cell in the province of Nampula, located northeast of the capital Maputo, for more than 5 months. They were arrested separately while they were traveling to this southern African country in search of work. The Mozambican police are threatening to send them to prison if they do not pay the deportation fees themselves. Their families have contacted Burundi’s representations in the sub-region, to no avail. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

SOS Médias Burundi has obtained the identity of the eight Burundians. They are namely Jonathan Niyoyitungira, from the Mabanda district in Makamba province (southern Burundi), Trésor Kakunze from the Ruyigi district and province (east), Jean Marie Ndihokubwayo from the Murwi district in Cibitoke province (northwest), Olivier Izonderera, from the Gahombo district in Kayanza province (north), Alexandre Nishimwe from the Ruhororo district in Ngozi province (north), Hassan Nkurunziza from the district of Mwumba in Ngozi province, Élias Barayavuga from Giteranyi district in Muyinga province (northeast) and Jean Bon Fils Bikorimana from Ryansoro district in Gitega province (center).

The eight Burundian nationals were arrested while traveling to Mozambique in search of work, according to their relatives.

“Burundians who have been living in the country for several years had promised to find them work or employ them once they arrived in Mozambique,” they say.

According to them, they were arrested by the Mozambican migration services just after crossing the border with Malawi.

“They are held in the province of Nampula. The police holding them have refused to release them. They are demanding the payment of 30,000 meticais (the official currency of Mozambique)”, according to family members of those concerned who spoke to SOS Médias Burundi. This amount is reserved for 5 police officers who should accompany the arrested persons back to Burundi. In Burundi francs, the sum is equivalent to 3,375,000.

“We cannot raise this amount”, complain relatives of the detainees.

Threat of hard imprisonment

The Mozambican police have threatened to send these Burundians to prisons “where it will be very difficult to get out”, if they fail to “pay this amount before Tuesday, October 22”. The families say they are short of means. “Burundian commission agents pretending to be intermediaries lied to us. We mobilized between 5 and 10 million thinking that the money reached the Mozambican police but we realized at the last minute that they were scammers”, lament families of those concerned.

Silent representations

Some families have confided in the Burundian embassy in Zambia and consular representations of the Republic of Burundi in Mozambique and Malawi in order to obtain the release of these Burundians, in vain.

They are asking the Burundian government to intervene.

A Burundian government spokesman was not available to respond to these concerns.

In recent years, several hundred Burundians, composed of young graduates and uneducated people in search of a better tomorrow, have traveled to southern African countries such as Zambia, Malawi, South Africa and Mozambique. It is in Zambia and South Africa where roundups targeting Burundian nationals are often reported.