The City of Cape Town called on the government today to invite the UN to help with refugee relief efforts.
"We require practical assistance … in the form of the resources and expertise of (the UN) … which has a large department specifically re-sourced to deal with crises of international magnitude such as (this)," Mayor Helen Zille said in a statement.
This follows a meeting yesterday where Arvin Gupta, a UN High Commission for Refugees official, criticised the holding of the 18,000 displaced people in "safe zone" camps across the city.
Gupta said the UNHCR was willing to assist the government, but had not been asked for assistance.
South Africa had the option of asking for international help to deal with the crisis, but had so far chosen to rely on its own resources.
Zille said: "We welcome the critique of (Gupta) regarding the safe zones that the city has set up to provide immediate shelter and re-sources for thousands of displaced people.
"We fully agree that people should be reintegrated into their communities if this is what they want. We have called for a peace-keeping force of the SANDF in order to facilitate this …
"We cannot, however, force displaced people to return to their communities against their will."
Zille said no one was being forced to go to the safe sites, and nobody was being prevented from leaving.
"On the contrary, hundreds of people are demanding entry every day and many of the sites are now full to capacity," she said.
Zille called on the province and the Defence Department to make additional sites available to accommodate refugees.
She said the city had seconded 45 staff members to the Home Affairs Department to help deal with the processing of documentation relating to the displaced people.
She urged the UNHCR and embassies to "become involved in addressing the plight of thousands of displaced people who wish to re-turn to their countries of origin".
Emotions ran high at the hour-long meeting between Gupta, civil society representatives and refugees at UCT yesterday.
People of various nationalities were at loggerheads with Gupta.
Some surrounded Gupta, protesting that an hour was not enough and that their grievances had not been properly heard.
They accused the UNHCR of not assisting them adequately.
"All I want to do now is to return to my country … we are never going to be safe in this country," said Rosaline Mulongo from Uganda.
Gupta said that while the displaced people were the responsibility of the SA government, one of the UNHCR's mandates was to protect "externals" within a country.
Fatima Khan of the UCT Law Clinic, who chaired the meeting, said more than 500 displaced people had approached the Law Clinic with a list of grievances.
Some refugees had asked for South Africa be taken to an international court, saying the attacks in recent weeks were genocide.
- Cape Argus
"We require practical assistance … in the form of the resources and expertise of (the UN) … which has a large department specifically re-sourced to deal with crises of international magnitude such as (this)," Mayor Helen Zille said in a statement.
This follows a meeting yesterday where Arvin Gupta, a UN High Commission for Refugees official, criticised the holding of the 18,000 displaced people in "safe zone" camps across the city.
Gupta said the UNHCR was willing to assist the government, but had not been asked for assistance.
South Africa had the option of asking for international help to deal with the crisis, but had so far chosen to rely on its own resources.
Zille said: "We welcome the critique of (Gupta) regarding the safe zones that the city has set up to provide immediate shelter and re-sources for thousands of displaced people.
"We fully agree that people should be reintegrated into their communities if this is what they want. We have called for a peace-keeping force of the SANDF in order to facilitate this …
"We cannot, however, force displaced people to return to their communities against their will."
Zille said no one was being forced to go to the safe sites, and nobody was being prevented from leaving.
"On the contrary, hundreds of people are demanding entry every day and many of the sites are now full to capacity," she said.
Zille called on the province and the Defence Department to make additional sites available to accommodate refugees.
She said the city had seconded 45 staff members to the Home Affairs Department to help deal with the processing of documentation relating to the displaced people.
She urged the UNHCR and embassies to "become involved in addressing the plight of thousands of displaced people who wish to re-turn to their countries of origin".
Emotions ran high at the hour-long meeting between Gupta, civil society representatives and refugees at UCT yesterday.
People of various nationalities were at loggerheads with Gupta.
Some surrounded Gupta, protesting that an hour was not enough and that their grievances had not been properly heard.
They accused the UNHCR of not assisting them adequately.
"All I want to do now is to return to my country … we are never going to be safe in this country," said Rosaline Mulongo from Uganda.
Gupta said that while the displaced people were the responsibility of the SA government, one of the UNHCR's mandates was to protect "externals" within a country.
Fatima Khan of the UCT Law Clinic, who chaired the meeting, said more than 500 displaced people had approached the Law Clinic with a list of grievances.
Some refugees had asked for South Africa be taken to an international court, saying the attacks in recent weeks were genocide.
- Cape Argus
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