Tents emptied of refugees

01 July 2015 - 08:56 By NATHI OLIFANT

Ethekwini municipality officials dismantled the Chatsworth refugee transit camp yesterday, ending a three- month humanitarian crisis. But by 7.30pm some foreigners were refusing to leave the camp, forcing municipal officials into impromptu negotiations."We are talking to them but, as we speak, the tents are being taken down. There will be no camp tomorrow," said transit camp supervisor Bheki Mngwengwe.Foreigners who had been stranded at the camp near Durban since the xenophobic attacks of three months ago were packed into waiting municipal buses under protest.By yesterday morning there were only 143 people left.Deputy city manager Musa Gumede said the municipality and the provincial department of community safety and liaison had worked hard to reintegrate the foreigners."Communities are ready and happy to accept them back," he said.Chantel Nibigura, 33, a single mother from Burundi, said she did not know where to go with her 13-year-old son."I lost my place in Isipingo and I no longer have a business. I don't know what to do," she said as she prepared to board one of the buses.UN High Commission for Refugees representative Acacio Juliao agreed that it was time for the camp to close."We understand that not everyone who chooses to leave Chatsworth will want to be integrated or settled, but people must choose where they want to go," said Juliao."The option given before was either reintegration or repatriation. This was a problem for some."..

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