Malawi police find more bodies near mass grave that contained 25 Ethiopians
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Mozambique,
Aug 10 2013, 22:37pm ist
updated: Aug 10 2013, 22:52pm ist
Mozambique’s police were investigating the discovery last month of a mass grave near the border with Tanzania and Kenya where 25 ethnic Somalis who had been trafficked to Ethiopia were buried, an official said on Friday.
“The mass grave is located at a place called Karibu [in] Masisi district, the area where the bodies were found,” police spokesman Alfred Murilo said. The mass grave, which was found in two trucks and surrounded by rocks and palm trees, contained the remains of about 30 people, he said.
The police believe that the people who died in the grave were killed at a border post in July and August last year. As there is no official record of the deaths, Murilo said, investigators were seeking more information from the Somalis who were found in the mass grave. “They were from different parts of the country,” he added.
“We have conducted another investigation since the discovery in order to get more information about the deceased.”
Human Rights Watch called on police and security forces in Mozambique to investigate the deaths and bring to justice the perpetrators of a crime that it said “must be investigated and punished for the terrible suffering it has caused”.
“In the absence of any evidence, these deaths could be the result of a crime by people who crossed the border into Mozambique,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, deputy director at Human Rights Watch. “We urge authorities in Mozambique to fully investigate and prosecute these crimes.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) called for an overhaul of the international system for the return and settlement of refugees.
“As a body, we are calling on the international community, through the United Nations, to reform the return and settlement processes to ensure that they are well