It is illegal to forcibly return refugees to a territory where they face danger but in a country where human rights abuses of its own citizens are the order of the day, Rwandese refugees must now watch their backs.
Lusaka, Dec. 2 – A combined team of Police and Security Officers last evening picked up a well known Rwandese refugee, Appolinaire Nsengiyumva, and is detained at Ibex Police Station.
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Sources confirmed that authorities want to secretly hand him over to Kigali, an action which is against international law and the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees.
In 2021, Appolinaire Nsengiyumva, who worked as a junior officer at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), was in the limelight following allegations levelled against him and President Edgar Lungu in a court of law in Kigali.
Zambia’s State House and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, immediately dismissed the allegations as false and sensational.
Appolinaire was named by that country’s rebel leader Maj. Nsabimana Sankara Callixte in a court testimony that his link in Zambia was Appolinaire Nsengiyumva who allegedly enjoyed friendship with President Edgar Lungu.
Under the 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person who, owing to a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.
It is illegal for any country to forcibly return refugees to a territory where they face danger but in a country where human rights abuses of its own citizens are the order of the day, Rwandese refugees must now watch their backs.
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