In a car park south of the Zambian capital Lusaka, dozens of young men with backpacks, from countries including Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), watched coaches leave for South Africa. One of them, in his 20s, told us, “I was attacked in Mogadishu.” He had a long scar on his face and an injured eye. “I left Somalia because of the violence.” It has never known peace: the Somali state collapsed when the government of Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in January 1991, after which warlords tore the country apart.
Every day, dozens of these migrants are piled into trucks. some pay smugglers to get them on board. A source we met in the parking lot said: “These trucks are supposed to be taking food to Johannesburg, but some have hidden compartments that can hold dozens of refugees, lying down, to avoid border checks. The only problem is ventilation: only the toughest survive.’ Another young man (who looked like a minor) was shaking with fear but determined to make the journey: “I have no other way to get to South Africa, so I’m going to this,” he told us, nodding towards a semi. -trailer made in the 1970s.
Migration flows in southern Africa are large and complex, and migrants have high (and often unrealistic) expectations of life in richer countries. South Africa is the second largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria and accounted for two-thirds of South Africa’s GDP in 2021 ($419 billion). For would-be migrants from the Horn of Africa, the streets of Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg seem paved with gold. South Africa is the top destination, second only to North Africa (as a gateway to Europe).
Zambia, as Southern Africa’s fourth largest economy with a GDP of $22 billion in 2021, is triple affected by population flows as a country of immigration, transit and emigration. As of July 2023, it hosted 89,109 refugees, asylum seekers and other displaced persons. mainly from DRC, Burundi, Rwanda (…)
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(3) International Organization for Migration, “South Africa – Monthly Flow Monitoring Register Report (May 2023)”, Geneva, July 2023.
(5) UNHCR, “In dialogue with Zambia, Human Rights Committee experts praise abolition of death penalty and measures to improve prison conditions, raise issues on violence against women and girls”, Geneva, 3 March 2023, www.ohchr.org/.
(7) “End war now before it’s too late for Ethiopians, UN rights chief urges fighters” UN news3 Nov. 2021, news.un.org/.
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