More than 2, 000 refugees in Namibia have not been reporting to verification centers, raising fears that they might be on the run. 
Namibia’s Commissioner for Refugees Nkrumah Mushelenga said Thursday, of the 6,100 refugees and asylum seekers in the country, the whereabouts of 2,354 are not known.
Most of the refugees and asylum seekers were accommodated at Osire Refugee Camp, about 218 kilometers from the capital Windhoek.
The biggest number of refugees, 1, 219, who have not been reporting to verification centers are from the Democratic Republic of Congo that has about 2, 854 refugees and asylum seekers in the country.
Rwanda has 862 of which 643 are feared to be on the run, while eight out of 207 Zimbabweans seeking refuge and asylum have not been reporting to verification centers.
The remainder is made up of refugees and asylum from Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Ukraine, Uganda, Burundi, Bangladesh, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Liberia, Mali and Nigeria.
Admitting that the number of refugees and asylum seekers who cannot be accounted for is alarming, Mushelenga said the police and other law enforcement agencies should work hard to find those on run and arrest them.
Mushelenga also said if a person wants to move away from refugee status the law takes its course because the refugee must cancel his/her refugee status and then they could perhaps apply for settlement.
“This means he/she must make documents available from the country of origin and then he/she can apply for citizenship.
“There have been many former refugees who have done that especially those who married Namibians,” he said.
Enditem
-Xinhua
