Recent Attacks on Foreigners in Zambia
Published: 1 Jun 2016
By the Rt Reverend John Osmers, Assistant Anglican Bishop of Lusaka, Zambia, and former Anglican Bishop of Eastern Zambia. This article has been lightly edited for Rights in Exile style.
The recent attacks on foreigners in Zambia are an unexpected and shameful episode in the country’s long and illustrious history of supporting refugees. Zambia has provided a secure home to several hundreds of thousands of refugees over the past 50 years: however during 18-20 April 2016 this year, marauding gangs of looters destroyed small shops owned by foreigners in some of the poorer compounds which are the most densely populated areas of Lusaka.
Prior to these events, a number of unexplained ritual murders in Lusaka had caused fear and suspicion. Despite no evidence of the involvement of non-Zambians in these crimes, a rumour quickly spread that body parts had been found in the small shop of a foreigner, prompting widespread attacks on many small, foreign-owned shops. Assisted by the army, the police eventually brought the attacks to an end, but not before approximately 70 shops had been destroyed. Most of the small shop keepers are former Rwandan refugees. Of the 5-6,000 Rwandan former refugees living in Zambia, around 1,000 are urban refugees who support themselves by running successful small businesses which help the local communities.
The attacks were perpetrated by poor Zambians taking advantage of the rumours of foreigner involvement in ritual murders to steal groceries and other items. Around 250 looters have since been arrested and are now facing court charges. On 10 April 2016, four Zambians – including two soldiers and a traditional doctor – were together charged with seven counts of murder, all of which involved the removal of body parts.
At the time of the attacks, several hundred refugees approached UNHCR, the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees and St Ignatius Roman Catholic Church to seek protection. The majority were refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), who are generally street traders rather than small shopkeepers. The President of Zambia Mr Edgar Lungu has always been ready to listen to refugees. He visited a group of around 400 sheltering in the Catholic church and appeared on state television expressing his profound regret for the attacks and emphasising the government’s intention to secure the safety of all foreigners in Zambia.
The DRC refugees requesting protection have since been transported to the two large refugee settlements of Mayukwayukwa and Meheba, where they may hope to ask for resettlement to a third country. On 6 May 2016, approximately 60 Banyamulenge DRC refugees were apprehended at the Kazungula border when trying to enter Botswana.
Rwandan Hutu former refugees are particularly vulnerable in Zambia. Their refugee status was removed against their will in June 2013, but unlike Angolan former refugees in Zambia they have not yet been given local integration. In order to obtain Zambian residence permits, Zambian law requires that they first take Rwandan government passports, which they decline to do. They fear this will bring them under the control of the Tutsi-led Rwandan government.
Their vulnerability has been further increased by the three days of attacks in April, which some observers have suggested may have been encouraged by Rwandan government agents in order to destabilise the situation of Rwandan former refugees by causing divisions between them and the local Zambian population.
Many Rwandan and Burundian refugees in Lusaka belong to the Roman Catholic and Seventh Day Adventist churches, where they meet together on a weekly or monthly basis, and both churches have organised relief programmes for their members and others who have been seriously affected by the attacks. In the last week of April 2016, Pope Francis sent his Emissary Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, to Zambia to express the Catholic Church’s concern. He brought financial assistance and met with refugees, all Catholic Bishops and other concerned persons.
Now that calm has been restored, foreigners and especially Rwandan former refugees must rebuild their small businesses. Rwandan former refugees have an assurance of protection from the Zambian government, and the hope for local integration in a way that will be acceptable both to them and to the government. This will enhance their security and hopefully make further attacks less likely. It is expected that the traditional Zambian hospitality to foreigners shown consistently over the past years will continue into the future.