The United Kingdom has announced plans to deport at least 2,500 Zimbabweans living illegally in that country.
New Zimbabwe.com reported that the British ambassador to Zimbabwe, Catriona Lang has informed officials in Zimbabwe that Britain was “determined to reduce the number of immigrants coming into the country by thousands”.
Zimbabwe’s Deputy President Kembo Mohadi who was informed of this decision according to local media.
The deputy president said in response to this announcement that Zimbabwe has no problem taking back its nationals to be deported.
“… We said we want to vet them before they leave the UK. We want to know whether or not they are Zimbabweans or if they are not fugitives who had run away from justice,” Mohadi was quoted as saying in response to the intended deportation.
Britain is Zimbabwe’s former colonial master but relations between the two nations deteriorated during the Mugabe era when he was accused of human rights abuses resulting in the imposition of sanctions.
In January this year some European countries including the UK signaled their willingness to lift sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe during the Robert Mugabe era for almost two decades.
State-owned Herald newspaper reported that the European Union countries are considering the possibility of the lifting the sanctions following recent political changes in the southern African country.
Source: Africafeeds.com