MOZAMBICAN MARINES ARREST SOMALI MIGRANTS

A detachment of Mozambican naval marines in the early hours of Friday morning captured a vessel with 103 Somali illegal immigrants, five nautical miles from the mouth of the Rovuma River, which marks the border between Mozambique and Tanzania. According to a press release from the Defense Ministry received by AIM, the Somali migrants were handed over to the immigration authorities, in Palma, in Cabo Delgado province. The vessel, the identity of which has not been revealed, is being held at Suhavo Island, off the Cabo Delgado coast.The arrest of illegal immigrants at sea falls under the Mozambique Navy's strategy in the fight against piracy and illegal immigration.Recent months have seen the arrests of hundreds of Somalis, entering northern Mozambique by land and by sea. Those claiming refugee status are normally taken to the Maratane refugee centre, in Nampula province – but over 6,000 Somali and Ethiopian refugees are reported to have abandoned Maratane in 2010. It is widely believed that most migrants are simply using Mozambique as a corridor and their real destination is South Africa.On 5 February, the South African authorities deported to Mozambique over 400 illegal immigrants of Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi and Chinese nationalities. The Mozambican government took responsibility for them, thus accepting the South African claim that they had crossed in to South Africa from Mozambique.