The leader of the Refugee Community in Zambia has demanded for some form of compensation for those refugees affected by the recent xenophobic attacks in Lusaka.
Chairman General of the Refugee Community in Zambia Emile Hatungimana described the xenophobic attacks on and looting of foreign-owned shops and property in Lusaka as barbaric and senseless.
Mr. Hatungimana was speaking in Lusaka during the commemoration of World Refugee Day, which falls today.
“Many are the victims and so far none is talking about compensation. At least something to start rebuilding their livelihoods again. May I, on behalf of the refugee community in Zambia, make an appeal for help to all stakeholders in refugee matters, organisations, the business community, churches and individuals to come to the aid of the victims of the looting. They lost all they had to live on and they are now real destitute. There is no dignity in poverty. They need your hand of generosity now more than ever before,” lamented Mr. Hatungimana.
The refugee leader thanked various sections of Zambian society who offered sanctuary to refugees and other foreigners during the xenophobic attacks, particularly, the St Ignatius Church of Lusaka.
While praising the Zambian Government for introducing the local integration programme for Angolans and Rwandans, Mr. Hatungimana called on the Government to fast-track the programme to achieve massive reduction of refugee population in the country.
At the same commemoration at Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) in Lusaka, UNHCR Representative, Ms Laura Lo Castro condemned the attacks on foreigners in Lusaka.
She said that while UNHCR was not in a position to compensate all the refugees affected by the xenophobic attacks, some assistance, through the agency’s implementing partner Action Africa Help International – Zambia, would be given to the most desperate cases identified.
She observed that the world has recorded unprecedented numbers of people of concern to UNHCR, with numbers of asylum-seekers, refugees, stateless persons and internally displaced standing at over 60 million globally.
“As we mark the World Refugee Day, the world has recorded unprecedented numbers of people of concern to UNHCR, with numbers of asylum-seekers, refugees, stateless persons and internally displaced standing at over 60 million globally. 24 people are forcibly displaced every minute! 10,000 people (mostly refugees) have died trying to cross the Mediterranean see since 2014,” Said Ms Lo Castro.
The UNHCR Representative further observed that with the increased pressure on countries and the number of wars and emergencies in the world constantly increasing, sentiments towards refugees are mixed.
“While we still have many who welcome refugees, some hearts are hardening. Let us celebrate today the courage and the resilience of refugees in the world and in Zambia, the courage and resilience of people who had no other choice but to leave their homes behind and seek safety and refuge in welcoming countries like Zambia,” she observed.
“At the same time, I wish to call on refugees to actively contribute to finding solutions to their situation, in full respect of Zambian laws. I call on refugees to take advantage of all opportunities the life in Zambia offers them, even if within numerous challenges.”
Guest of Honour at the World Refugee Day commemoration, Mr Vincent Chibuye, the Acting Commissioner for Refugees, assured the refugee community that Zambia will continue to abide by its obligations under international instruments it is party to, such as the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.
The World Refugee Day was being commemorated under the local theme: Together in Diversity, Peace and Prosperity. The commemoration was characterised by cultural performances, speeches and sports by refugees and Zambians.
Ask Kaponya (HH) to ask his nephew Lloyd Himambo at Zambian Witch Doctor to compensate you for the thuggery he instigated through his indoctrinated carders.
Ask the evil men and women in UPND for your compensation.
These are not matters we should take lightly. Hakainde and his nephew are sending messages of hate and ill-will to the communities. What level of thuggery writes this type of trash:
IT’S SHOCKING THAT WHILE PF IS RIGGING ELECTIONS HH IS SMILING AND CALLING FOR CALM
At the rate things are going, we can see HH winning but Esau Chulu announcing Lungu as winer and HH will hold a press conference to call for calm.
PF thugs are busy bringing down expensive bill boards and instead of maiming these criminals you are busy calling for calm?
These people should camp at State House where Chakolwa Chagwa resides. He is the one who organised the xenophobic attacks, and the ritual murders before that for body parts for his witchcraft. Chakolwa has brought shame to Zambians , now spoken in the same breath with the Zulus of South Africa who hack and murder foreigners for fun before breakfast. Chakolwa never condemned the attacks and only went to see the survivors after three weeks of attacks What a total disgrace this slimy flip-flopper is!
Are there two Kudos? What a flipping flip-flopper. Just stick to one message, you mother-flopper!
Why are these refuges suddenly acting delusional like UPND cadres? Smh
What people dont realise is that the ritual killings as they are called, which consequently led to what was perceived as xenophobic attacks, can be attributed to organ trafficking. It is not ritual killing as we are made to believe. People are harvesting body parts which are fetching good prices on the international market. These are being used to make rich white folk live with new livers while their damaged ones are thrown away. it is also used for research pruposes in the labs of the western world. Make no mistake, the real culprit is hiding behind the smoke screen as usual and leaves us the africans to accuse and kill each other. I have no doubt in my mind that the so called civilized western world is harvesting body members of african people for all sorts of science research and…
@saulosi, you PF can sontapo at rooted shops of beautiful refugees. Pay them.
You only demand compensation from HH and MMD. Pay refugees please, even chitenges you are dressing trees they can sell in their country. Pay!
PF thugs and lungu must compensate these refugees fullstop,, na sonta
Awe nabaleya fye kumwabo!
it is strange to see africans telling their fellow africans to just go back kumyabo. Zambia is their home too. every where on africa is your home. dont be misled by denouncing your fellow african brother and sister as foreign because of the artificial boundaries between states which you didnt even have a part in making. How can i,a tumbuka from Lundazi call a tumbuka from karonga in malawi a foreigner? that doesnt make sense at all. How are east africans different from us?How have we as africans allowed ourselves to be divided because some white folk in europe 1884 carved up our lands and we submit. Its mind boggling!!! And we here as bloggers are supposed to be some of the educated elites of our lands.
Is this person normal? His comments indicate he is not a human being, but a monster.
Just sue Edgar Hangover Chakolwa Kaloba Vodka Wrungu the Zambian rooted because the harsh economic poverty he has subjected us to.
chakolwa wrungu must compensate them.he shouldn’t just be drinking vodka at state house…VIVA HH 2016
ZWD COMMENT: We fully agree with the concerns contained in this letter. If HH wants to play by PF rules, let him step aside and let GBM show these PF maggots how to behave properly and lead UPND to victory. You can’t let your rival set the rules and become the spokesperson of your enemy. This is war. It’s not about HH going to state house. Its about saving the country from mediocrity, theft, extremism, tribalism and total collapse of the country. If PF wins, this country is gone.
At the rate things are going, we can see HH winning but Esau Chulu announcing Lungu as winer and HH will hold a press conference to call for calm.
PF thugs are busy bringing down expensive bill boards and instead of maiming these criminals you are busy calling for calm?
Remember what Sata did to Robibie…
Kaponya (HH) and his deranged nephew Wanzelu think they can enter State House using thuggery and Armageddon
https : // www . facebook . com / ZambianWatchdog/posts/1163808657003216
Actually Edgar chakolwa Vodka Kaloba Jameson Wrungu and the mailoni brothers are the same maybe the mailoni were even better because nobody trusted them but this most incompetent and idi0tic president of the millennium we intrusted him with keys national resources and he has abused them for personal gain,imagine how many people have died because their is no medicine in hospitals or the chakolwa has stolen the money meant for our healthy sector.
1. no one was compensated in south africa’s xenophobic attacks.
2. No one in refugee camps was attacked. Why don’t they confine themselves to refugee camps? they are the ones who are making lusaka over-populated. UNHCR should donate that money to street kids who are more of refugees than these Rwandees or thusies who are milking us of our money.
3. You even have voters cards and you call yourselves refugees? Go back to your land!
Your hate is shocking. You are a Pathetic Fascist, you maggot. Are South African Zulus, those innate murderers, people to emulate? That’s why Chakolwa Chagwa organised those ritual killings and xenophobic attacks because you are a bunch of maggots feeding on corpses.
Refugees do not live in camps in the USA. Why should they be discriminated against in Zambia? Your thinking is not only evil, but dangerous.
This is not south Africa you Imbecile. Why should we imitate apartheidists?
shooterz….So SA is your role model in everything? Remember, Zambia is not South Africa. And secondly, just because they’re refugees doesn’t mean they should confine themselves to a camp. As long as they have been properly vetted by the government, they should be free to move about in the country.
Yes compensation is logical but integration needs to take time. In fact government needed to examine this issue of integration on case by case basis rather than a wholesale approach that could bring problems to future generations.
HERE COMES THE HEAVY WEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT OF THE ZAMBIAN WORLD- HH vs ecl
THE WINNER AS EXPECTED HH
THANK YOU HH FOR DELIVERING ZAMBIA FROM THE BONDAGE OF CORRUPTION, THUGGURISM, POVERTY, THEFT BY PF, WASTAGE..TOO NUMEROUS TO LIST. MAY THE DEFEATED GO TO ETERNAL PUNISHMENT WHERE THEY WILL BE GNASHING OF TEETH FOR MAKING INNOCENT ZAMBIANS SUFFER BECAUSE OF GREED.
CONTINUE DREAMING,WINNER HH?COUNT CHICKENS BEFORE THEY ARE HATCHED.BESIDES THE TOPIC IS DIFFERENT BE FOCUSED UBUKOPO
Lungu caused the xenophobic attacks. He must pay
Dokota Kambwili statement on the demand by the refugees these foreigners should behave our humble president has accommodated them,now they have been paid by a named opposition political party. The Pfools always got some to blame.
4 weeks into the attacks and lungu and his PF police were concentrating on harassing the opposition.
They were busy trying to convince us that GBM was arming militia with golf clubs , boxing gloves and catapults to fight ZAF , ZNS and ZP.
Are refugees immune to insurance. They should just go to their insurance companies & fill in insurance claims forms. These people are just small scale foreign investors who should understand benefits of all financial services like banking & insurance. How can they own investment and open bank accounts without buying insurance. Only donations from well wishers should be spent on those without insurance but not tax payers money. This same principle should equally apply to Zambian citizens also. Zambia has got more than 50 banks and insurance companies looking for loans & insurance customers.
@ true zambian
Instead of blabbing, inform yourself about Insurance industry!!!
Name one Insurance Company which will insure you and your property against “civil unrest”?
In Countries with real democracy, it is the State who compensate victims of “civil unrest”!!!
You want to know why?
Think!!!
@hung them high.. my friend you get an A+ for a perfect response
Compensation should be based on their tax contributions. That is fair. The more you contributed the more you get compensated.
No tax no compensation.
You will find those shops don’t bank their money and send profits straight out of the country in suitcases.
Its shocking how your own black folks will often treat you like the most worthless trash while they show more deference to a similar racist hater from outside .Part of getting ahead in life is feeling worthy and treating “lesser people” as also worthy of respect.
Both HH and Edgar CL attract crowds to.their rallies but the difference is clear: the crowds love Edgar from the bottom of their hearts but see HH as “just one of those politicians interested in State House”.
1MBEC1LE
THE WILL, THE WILL THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE MUST BE RESPECTED INDEED! DECEPTION, DECEPTION, DECEPTION, DECEPTION. ATI LUNGU IS THE CHOSEN ONE. CHOSEN BY WHO? THAT VIPER! ABASH BLASPHEMY! ABASH LOOTER! ABASH CORRUPTION! ABASH SELF EXALTATION! LUNGU PREPARE YOURSELF PSYCHOLOGICALLY TO HAND OVER POWER TO HH BECAUSE ZAMBIANS ARE ALREADY SHOWING YOU THAT THEY NEED TO CHANGE GOVERNMENT, JUST LIKE THEY DID IT IN 1991 AND IN 2011. VIVA CHANGE VIVA! VIVA HH VIVA! VIVA ZAMBIA VIVA!
@Hung Them High
All insurance companies in the world pay claims for civil unrest with exception for those that are politically motivated which are paid under terrorism and political violence insurance. The damage they suffered are not connected to terrorism or political violence but ritual murders speculation as per findings by Zambia Police.
ALL OF YOU ITS SHOCKING HOW YOU DON’T ANALYZE ISSUES THE WAY THEY SHOULD BE.FIRST OF OF ALL HAVE THESE SAME REFUGEES CLAIMED COMPENSATION FROM THEIR COUNTRIES WHERE THEY WERE DISPLACED????? WE WELCOMED THEM AND GIVEN THEM THE PEACE THATS SO FAR FETCHED IN RWANDA,PIPO REACTED TO THE INNOCENT VICTIMS WHO WERE BEING KILLED AND SOME SUSPECTS SAID THEY WERE HIRED BY SOME RWANDAN BUSINESS MEN,AND THATS WHY RWANDESE WERE TARGETED,ZAMBIANS DID NOT RISE AGAINST EVERY FOREIGNER.AM NOT IN SUPPORT OF WHAT LED TO THE KILLING OR LOOTING BUT THESE REFUGEES ARE GETTING TOO FAR EFILYA ICHIBEMBA CHILANDA ATI UKULU UNDAPA UMULWELE EKO AKUNYATAKO(SOME ONES LEG YOU HAVE TREATED IS THE ONE THEY USE TO KICK YOU) WE HAVE HOSTED THEM AND THEY SHOULD STAY FROM ANY TROUBLE OR THEY SHOULD GO BACK INKONDO…