Maputo, 17 Jun (AIM) – The Mozambican government has announced that it is carrying out diplomatic and institutional measures in order to repatriate 14 Mozambican nationals stranded in the Central African Republic, after they fell victim to a fraudulent job recruitment scheme.
According to Salim Valá, Minister of Planning and Development and government spokesperson, who was speaking on Tuesday, in Maputo, after a meeting of the Council of Ministers (cabinet), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is monitoring the situation closely with permanent contact with both the Central African authorities and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
According to Valá, the group is currently located in the Mbressé region and “its vulnerability is severely compounded by the fact that 11 individuals had their passports confiscated, which means that their freedom of movement was strictly restricted.”
“At this moment, the problem has been effectively identified. We take this opportunity to alert our fellow citizens to be extremely cautious regarding overseas job recruitment schemes presented as stable and well-remunerated, which often result in circumstances of this nature”, the minister said.
The victims were reportedly recruited last May to work at a mining site. However, when faced with a reality entirely different from what was promised and deprived of basic working conditions, the citizens appealed to Mozambican authorities to facilitate their return home.
This case once again raises alarms regarding the operations of irregular recruitment and labor trafficking networks affecting citizens across the African continent.
(AIM)
MR/ZT/Am/
