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20 SOMALIS, CONGOLESE TRAFFICKED INTO ESWATINI DAILY – MP

11/03/2024 08:47:00 Sabelo Majola

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MBABANE – Mayiwane MP Sicelo Dlamini has shared with Members of Parliament (MPs) that at least 20 Somali and Congolese nationals are trafficked into the country on a daily basis and are used as slaves.

The former police officer told the Minister of Home Affairs, Princess Lindiwe, that he was tipped by a former colleague stationed at the police Intelligence Unit about this thriving trafficking, occurring almost on a daily basis.

Informer

He narrated that his informer told him that there were individuals who were responsible for trafficking the foreigners into the country and they would be loaded in a kombi, and assisted to cross into the country. The legislator revealed that the perpetrators mostly used the entry point at Buhleni and then the foreigners would be delivered at a house situated in Manzini. What got the parliamentarians astonished was that Dlamini shared that a senior police officer at Buhleni was aware of the trafficking, as the people behind it would parade the foreigners before him after their arrival. He said the foreigners, in the presence of the senior police officer, would be told that if they did something sinister, they would be arrested by the senior cop. The MP said he received a message from one of his former colleagues, requesting him to make a submission on the issue in Parliament, so that the Ministry of Home Affairs would do something about it. Dlamini also alleged that the trafficked people were then placed in one house for a long time and were being used to carry out duties assigned to them by the perpetrators.

Monitor

“I want to know how you monitor the arrival of people in the country as a ministry,” he inquired from the minister. However, the minister is expected to submit written responses to Parliament today and they would be tabled at a date to be announced by the Speaker of the House, Jabulani Mabuza. Deputy Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Assistant Superintendent Nosipho Mnguni said she was yet to consult on the matter and find out if police were aware of it. Notably, foreigners from these two countries are also dominating both asylum seekers and refugees numbers in the country, as stipulated in the Eswatini Migration Profile Report that was conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, in collaboration with the United Nations partners.

According to the report, the asylum seekers section presented the stock and flows of forced migrants who recently arrived or had already settled in Eswatini. The report reveals that forced migration takes place for several reasons, including political conflicts and persecution, among others. Eswatini is the place of residence for a total of 1 507 asylum-seekers and 263 migrants with refugee status and the country has one refugee reception centre at Malindza Refugee Reception Centre and the country favours a system whereby refugees are allowed to integrate into the society.

Nationality

The main nationality of persons seeking asylum were from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (622), Somalia (398) and Burundi (133). The Refugees Department in the ministry reported a total of 263 refugees in Eswatini, with a gradual increase from 52 persons in 2017 to a record high of 84 persons in 2021. “Most of them have been residing in the country for many years. Countries of the Eastern African region – specifically, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Somalia – continue to be major countries of origin for refugees fleeing to Eswatini due to relative political and social stability,” reads the report. It should be noted that both Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo currently have armed conflicts.

In the last United Nations Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, 3 459 children abducted (2 399 boys and 1 038 girls). Overall, since the previous report, there has been a 20 per cent rise in the number of child abductions, and the abduction of girls alone has increased by 40 per cent. “Almost all abduction incidents were attributed to armed groups with the highest numbers verified in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, the Lake Chad Basin, Burkina Faso and Nigeria,” reads the report.