HARARE Zimbabweans topped the list of nationalities seeking asylum in the United Kingdom for the second year running, with a total of 7 420 asylum applications in 2009, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR's) latest statistics report. The account, written in a booklet called Asylum Levels and trends in Industrialised Countries 2009, showed that asylum applications from Zimbabwe rose by more than 3 100 over the previous year.??
The total number of Zimbabwe asylum claimants is more than double that of the second-placed country, Afghanistan, which had 3 535 claimants. The Islamic Republic of Iran (2 125), Pakistan (2 035) and Sri Lanka (1 430) completed the top five.??
Home Office figures in the UK also released recently showed that Zimbabwean asylum seekers registered 3 895 asylum appeals in 2009, more than 60 percent of the total received from the African region in the same year.??
Of the 2 430 appellants granted leave to remain in the United Kingdom, a disproportionate 1 690 were Zimbabweans. ??
At least three million Zimbabweans are said to be living outside the country, the majority of them in South Africa, having fled political repression and poverty after a decade-long economic crisis blamed on President Robert Mugabes controversial policies.
A unity government formed by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Mugabe in February is yet to convince rich Western nations that the southern African country is firmly on the path to genuine reform for them give it much needed financial support to resuscitate its shattered economy.
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