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06/21/2004:
"Refugees opt for Zimbabwe"
By Alfred Chagondawww.herald.co.zw
ZIMBABWE now hosts more than 10 000 refugees, mostly from troubled central and east African countries.
In an interview, the Director of Social Services, Mr Sydney Mhishi, said the country was now looking after 10 282 refugees, almost all from Africa although there were about 80 from Near East countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan.
By end of the week, another 14 asylum-seekers were awaiting vetting at the Waterfalls Transit Centre in Harare.
Zimbabwe’s prolonged years of peace, tranquillity and stability, coupled with a good human rights record since independence in 1980, has seen the country attracting the refugees.
Mr Mhishi said while asylum-seekers go to all countries in the region, those that came here said they preferred Zimbabwe because it was a peaceful country.
Mr Mhishi said the refugees in the country come from Rwanda, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Togo, Bangladesh, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Liberia, Congo Brazzaville, Angola, Bosnia, Cameroon, Tanzania, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Armenia, Kenya, Eritrea, Pakistan and Mauritius.
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