Zambia says it will accord Rwandan refugees, who were recently targeted in xenophobic attacks, special refugee status, even as Rwanda maintains that some of them are on the wanted list of genocide suspects.

On World Refugee Day commemorated on June 20, Zambia President Edgar Lungu called on authorities to ensure that xenophobic attacks such as occurred in Lusaka recently don’t recur.

In April, hundreds of Rwandan refugees were attacked by locals who accused them of engaging in ritual killings. They fled to the Rwandan High Commission in Lusaka, as their shops and properties were ransacked by marauding gangs.

“I wish to underline that the government strongly condemns the recent attacks on refugees witnessed in the densely populated communities of Lusaka,” Zambian Home Affairs Deputy Minister Colonel Gerry Chanda said. Over 250 people, mainly youth, were arrested.

“The president gave the ministry strict instructions to ensure that such xenophobic attacks don’t happen again,” Col Chanda said, adding that more than 15,000 Rwandan and Angolan refugees will be integrated into the country.

READ: Rwandan nationals suffer attacks but are reluctant to return home

He assured Rwandan refugees that Zambia was committed to upholding international obligations of protecting refugees.

Wanted for genocide

Following the attacks in April, Rwanda said that Zambia still has the largest number of individuals wanted for genocide-related crimes.

According to the records held by the Genocide Fugitive Tracking Unit, Zambia is among the leading African countries with genocide suspects, along with Zambia, Malawi, DR Congo and Mozambique. Aldo Nkunzingoma, a refugee who contacted The EastAfrican from Lusaka, said that the opportunities they have in Zambia are hard to let go of.

“Zambia has been good for us businesswise, even though the majority of us want to return home,” Mr Nkunzingoma said, adding that even those with nothing to fear back home find it difficult to leave their lucrative businesses behind.

Over the past six years, the Rwandan government has conducted an exercise dubbed “come and see,” which encourages refugees to go back and see the progress the country has made.

In an earlier interview, Rwanda’s Minister of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs Seraphine Mukantabana said those who seek to return home can be repatriated.