MALAWI/MALAWI-MOZAMBICAN BORDER/MOZAMBIQUE: THOUSANDS OF MOZAMBICAN REFUGEES RETURN HOME UNDER REPATRIATION PROGRAMME RUN BY THE UNHCR

Record ID: 639760

  • Title: MALAWI/MALAWI-MOZAMBICAN BORDER/MOZAMBIQUE: THOUSANDS OF MOZAMBICAN REFUGEES RETURN HOME UNDER REPATRIATION PROGRAMME RUN BY THE UNHCR
  • Date: 13th September 1993
  • Summary: NSANJE, MALAWI/ MALAWI-MOZAMBIQUE BORDER/ MUTARARA AND SENA, MOZAMBIQUE (RECENT) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) NSANJE, MALAWI 1. AERIAL/ZOOM :INWARDS TO DESERTED NJAMATHUTHU REFUGEE CAMP 0.15 2. GV/SV REFUGEES WAITING AT RAILWAY STATION (2 SHOTS) 0.23 3. SV TRAIN ARRIVING 0.27 4. HAS/SV/GV REFUGEES LOADING TRAIN (4 SHOTS) 0.43 5. MCU UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES FIELD OFFICER JOHN CHANDA SAYING THEY REPATRIATE ON AVERAGE 2,000 REFUGEES PER DAY (ENGLISH) 6. HAS/SV REFUGEES ON TRAIN (2 SHOTS) 0.59 MARKA, MALAWI/MOZAMBIQUE BORDER 7. SV TRAIN CROSSING BORDER 1.05 MUTARARA, MOZAMBIQUE 8. HAS/GV/SV : REFUGEES BEING LOADED ONTO FERRY 1.13 9. SV : BOAT PASSING BRIDGE DESTROYED DURING WAR 1.22 SENA, MOZAMBIQUE 10. FERRY ARRIVING AT REFUGEES' OLD HOME THEY DISEMBARK (3 SHOTS)1.33 11. GV : REFUGEES WATCH SUNSET NEAR RIVER 1.37 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 28th September 1993 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NSANJE, MALAWI / MALAWI-MOZAMBICAN BORDER / MUTURARA AND SENA, MOZAMBIQUE
  • City:
  • Country: AFRICA Mozambique Malawi
  • Reuters ID: LVACKAK0EJQ8I0BWTA3L6K0C6LBK
  • Story Text: Years of alienation in foreign refugee camps have finally come to an end for thousands of Mozambican refugees who fled the trauma and horror of their country's 16 year-long civil war to spend their lives in exile.

    Many people who left behind their homes, friends and in many cases their relatives, are now being reunited as they return home under the voluntary repatriation programme run by the UNHCR, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

    Njamathuthu refugee camp at Nsanje in Malawi stood deserted last week, the houses stripped and the people gone - to wait for the train that would take them home at last.

    At the nearby station men, women and children clutched their belongings and chattered excitedly as they waited for the train to arrive.

    UNHCR Field Officer, John Chanda, said an average of 2,000 refugees are repatriated daily, "not only by train but by road and by boat also".

    When the train arrived the people flocked to its doors, eagerly bundling in their possessions, their children and then themselves.

    Despite a few clinging goodbyes as those leaving clutched hands with those left behind, the atmosphere was one of jubilation as the train left the station with hands waving from the windows.

    At Marka, on the border between Malawi and Mozambique the refugees stopped to register and prepare to take a bus to the ferry at Mutarara in Mozambique. It is no longer possible to travel by rail as the tracks destroyed during years of fighting have yet to be repaired.

    At Mutarara, the final leg of the long journey home began.

    The refugees loaded their belongings onto the small boats for the last time.

    The five-km (three-mile) bridge that could take them across the lake to Sena, their home, was destroyed by Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO) rebel soldiers during the war and remains broken.

    As the ferry approached the Sena, the refugees applauded spontaneously and a small welcoming committee from the village waited to revive old acquaintances.

    The sun set on Sena that day, with its people returned and its heart beginning to beat once again.


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