Mozambique repatriates 100 Indians

Mozambique on Saturday allowed the repatriation of 100 Indians who were stranded in the country over Covid-19 travel restrictions.

The flight departed from Maputo International Airport to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and then onward to Mumbai.

The Indians were in Mozambique for tourism, visits and business, but the coronavirus pandemic affected their plans.

India’s High Commissioner to Mozambique, Rajeev Kumar, together with the India Cultural Association organised for their citizens to return home.

“I would like to acknowledge the Mozambique government’s flexibility for this trip. Without them this could never [have] happened,” Mr Kumar said.

By June 20, Mozambique had tested 23,104 people, out of which 688 Covid-19 cases were confirmed, 4 people died and 177 recovered. Some 19,341 are in quarantine.

Meanwhile, the Mozambican authorities have not released 16 African refugees and asylum seekers who have been in prison for the past 18 months, a lobby group said Saturday as the world marked the World Refugee Day.

Amnesty International said the 16 have not committed any crime.

The refugees and asylum seekers include 15 Congolese and one Ethiopian who have been in detention in Pemba, Cabo Delgado province, since their arrest in January 2019, Amnesty said.

“The biggest tragedy about the continued arbitrary detention of these refugees is that 18 months after their detention, they remain in the dark as to why they have been arrested in the first place,” Amnesty International deputy director for southern Africa, Muleya Mwananyanda, said in a statement.