Refugees residing at Dukwi Refugee Camp are accusing the Botswana government of refusing to issue them with identity cards, APA learnt here Tuesday.
According to a report in The Voice newspaper, the refugees, who are mainly from Namibia, accused the host government of deliberately failing to renew their refugee biometric identity cards.
A spokesperson for the refugees, Felix Kakula said most of the cards expire at the end of April and that those who have applied for renewal have only been issued with temporary cards.
“What has caught our eyes is that our status in these temporary cards is now ‘former Namibian refugee’ instead of ‘refugee’ as it used to be,” Kakula was quoted as saying.
He accused the Botswana government of dealing with them in bad faith despite a court order for their rights to be respected.
The Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security said the refugee status of Namibian refugees at Dukwi camp elapsed in 2015.
“As a result Namibians in Dukwi are no longer considered to have refugee status,” the ministry told the paper.
The Botswana High Court has however restrained the government from repatriating the refugees until reasons for their fleeing no longer exist.
The government has appealed the High Court ruling at the Court of Appeal. The matter is still pending.
KO/jn/APA