Lusaka - More than 100 Somali illegal immigrants rounded up by Zambian police two weeks ago have escaped from the camp where they were held, a UN refugee agency (UNHCR) official said on Tuesday.
UNHCR assistant information officer Kelvin Shimo said that 107 Somalis, taken to Maheba refugee camp in northwestern Zambian province early this month, disappeared a few days later.
He accused Zambian security authorities of taking the Somalis to the refugee camp without consulting the UNHCR office, and added that his agency would not be held responsible for their disappearance.
"Actually it is not our problem because we are not the ones who took them there. The matter is being handled by the government of Zambia," Shimo said.
The group of Somalis were among the 700 aliens picked up by Zambian security officers two weeks ago in a Copperbelt town of Ndola in an operation to rid the country of illegal immigrants, immigration official Edson Mtonga said.
Early this year, Zambia held more than 200 illegal aliens in its prisons. Most of them have been in jail for more than five years because the Zambian government says it cannot afford air fares to repatriate them. - Sapa-AFP