MDC supporters flee to Malawi

HARARE - Scores of MDC supporters, harassed by police and Zanu (PF) elements, are fleeing to Malawi to seek political asylum.
The Zimbabwean heard that scores of party supporters have fled to Dzaleka refugee camp, run by the Jesuit priests of the Catholic Church, located outside Lilongwe. The refugee camp contains political refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia and the Sudan.
There are an estimated 3,000 inmates at the camp, a former prison.
An MDC refugee at the centre told The Zimbabwean that he was trying to adjust to life at the camp after he fled Harare following indications that police were looking for him.
He called The Zimbabwean after reading a copy of the paper. The refugee, who cannot be named for security reasons said there were more and more refugees being admitted into the centre every day.
"The conditions here are bad and one has to put up one’s shelter. Each one of us receives a ration of 12kg rice, 1kg sugar, 100 grammes of salt, three tablets of soap, and 1kg of beans. They don’t supply blankets and I would very much want to return home, but I understand the political situation is still very tense," he said.
He said he could not go to SA and Botswana because those places was teeming with intelligence operatives.
"It was so tense and we escaped via Mozambique. My colleagues became jittery at Nyamapanda border post and were detained," he said.
"I made good my escape and was helped by an international truck driver who drove me into Malawi," he said.
But he is concerned about the safety of his wife and two children he left in Zimbabwe.
"Every day that passes I think of home," he said. "I desperately want to return home, but I fear for my life. I also fear that publication of your story will lead to harm for members of my family and that my hide-out will be discovered."