WINDHOEK – Nkrumah Mushelenga, Namibia’s Commissioner for Refugees,has said that more than 4,000 refugees in Namibia could be left without any help UNHCR planned to close down operations in Namibia later this year and to relocate in South Africa.
Government will take over the administration and other operations pertaining to refugees when the UNHCR relocates.
He said on Monday in Windhoek, that Namibian government does not have resources to look after the refugees in the country.
Mushelenga said the UNHCR should continue funding the government so that the refugees can be catered for.
“If they close, they should not stop the budget allocation to Namibia to ensure that the funds continue to cater for the protection services the Namibian government will deal with in the absence of the local [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]UNHCR offices,” he said.
Mushelenga also said Namibia has its own obligations and that its limited national budget was used for Namibians.
He said if the UNHCR moves out, the entire financial burden would be on the government and government was not ready to inherit that obligations, but are prepared to provide protection services to refugees.
Mushelenga said there are also fears that Namibians working for the UNHCR would be thrown out onto the streets when the relocation was done.
Meanwhile, UNHCR Country Representative, Lawrence Oba- Mgbangson promised that workers would not be left jobless.
“We are not going to leave the workers in the cold,’’ he said.
He said some would be sent to South Africa for training and once they are done there, they might be absorbed. (Xinhua/NAN)
