Gov�t to bear brunt of refugees� welfare :: Mmegi Online

Government is projected to incur around P20 million next year in refugees welfare as United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) wind down their operations by this year’s end. The Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Shaw Kgathi told Parliament Tuesday that the UN refugee agency has indicated its intention to scale down its operations in Botswana by end of December.

He was presenting his Ministry’s proposals for the National Development Plan 11. “The effect of this scaling down will result in a transfer of costs relating to welfare, health and education of refugees to the Botswana government,” he said. To deliver these services to over 2,000 refugees in the country, government will on average spend P20 million per annum.

Of the 2,113 asylum seekers at Dukwi Refugee Camp, majority are Namibians at 919, followed by 688 Zimbabweans, 312 Somalia nationals, 184 from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda and10 from Eritrea.

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