Court fines Somalis for illegal entry into Zambia

April 2004

A LIVINGSTONE court has fined 27 Somalis who wanted to sneak out to South Africa through Sinazongwe. Immigration public relations officer Jones Mwelwa said yesterday that the 27 were arrested recently in Livingstone as they attempted to leave the country to South Africa to seek political asylum.

Mwelwa said 17 adults were fined K20,0000 each while the 10 minors were also fined K100,000 after the court considered their mitigatory statements.
He said they were charged with failing to appear before an immigration officer as they did not seek clearance for departure to South Africa.
They only explained that they were proceeding to South Africa to seek asylum after being arrested.

Mwelwa said the court also ordered that the convicts be transferred to Lusaka and handed over to the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (Times of Zambia)


Somalis Arrested in Livingstone
TWENTY-SIX Somalis have been picked up for entering Zambia using forged travel documents. Immigration public relations officer Jones Mwelwa said yesterday 26 Somalis entered Zambia on Saturday using forged emergency travel documents.
Mr Mwelwa said the 26 purported that they were Ugandans and Tanzanians and entered Zambia through Nakonde and Mbala in transit to South Africa.
“The 26 proceeded to Zimbabwe through Sinazongwe using a bush path and reached that country’s border post at Zinga. Our counterparts in that country intercepted them,” he said. They were intercepted by Zimbabwean security personnel after they crossed into that country by water transport on the Zambezi river.

Mwelwa said they were driven to the Victoria Falls town and then handed to immigration officers in Livingstone where they were detained.
He said the Somalis would be charged for using Zambia as a transit point and using forged Ugandan and Tanzanian emergency travel documents when in fact they were Somalis. They were supposed to report themselves to the immigration department before crossing into another country.

In preliminary interviews, Mr Mwelwa said, the Somalis said they were travelling to South Africa to seek refugee status. (Times of Zambia)