SIHMA Press Review for March 2026
Africa
Aljazeera
27 Febuary 2026
Deadly journeys: Refugees, migrants risk everything to reach Europe
More than 560 people have gone missing in the Mediterranean while attempting to reach Europe in less than two months of the new year, putting it on track to be among the deadliest years on record, with at least 500 lost crossing from Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria, including 53 people, two of them babies, killed or missing when a boat capsized off Zuwara, Libya, and up to a thousand more feared dead after a freak cyclone struck weeks earlier. These deaths reflect the dangers migrants knowingly accept along what the IOM calls the world's most dangerous migration route, where an estimated 928,000 migrants were identified in Libya between August and October 2025 alone, many falling prey to militias that a UN Human Rights Office report described as running a systematic, profit-driven business of abuse and detention; testimonies from Ola, a Sierra Leonean beaten and held for ransom by militia in Zuwara, and Mubarak, a Sudanese man who fled Darfur only to be similarly imprisoned in Libya, illustrate how migrants weigh these known risks against conditions at home and conclude, in Mubarak's words, that continuing on is still their best option.
Anadolu Ajansı
10 February 2026
Nigerian military kill over 30 terrorists, repatriate 700 refugees in North East
Nigeria's Defence Headquarters reported that troops of Operation Hadin Kai neutralised more than 30 terrorists and facilitated the repatriation of over 700 Nigerian refugees over the past week, as intensified operations continued across Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states, according to Director of Defence Media Operations Maj.-Gen. Michael Onoja. Key actions included clearance operations in Damboa's Timbuktu Triangle that killed more than 20 terrorists, including commander Julaibib, alongside further engagements in Gwoza, Hong, and Mubi North that led to arrests, rescues, and seized weapons, as well as the destruction of three large detention facilities along the Damboa-Gujba axis, each capable of holding roughly 300 captives, from which 70 victims were freed. Separately, the military helped repatriate a second batch of about 700 Nigerian refugees from Cameroon via the Banki border, part of ongoing efforts to stabilise a North East region that has endured a Boko Haram- and ISWAP-led insurgency since 2009, one that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, and where sporadic attacks and IEDs continue despite territorial gains against the insurgents.
Ghana Business News
19 February 2026
Ghanaians told not to see migrants as “others”
Eric Boakye Peasah, National President of the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations on Migration in Ghana (CCMG), urged Ghanaians and the international community to stop viewing migrants as "others" to be rescued and instead see migration as a shared part of the human story requiring empathy, dignity, and collective responsibility, speaking at a two-day workshop organised by CCMG with Ghana's Ministry of the Interior, GIZ's Shaping Development-Oriented Migration programme, and the IOM, aimed at strengthening civil society input into Ghana's Global Compact for Migration (GCM) review ahead of the 2026 International Migration Review Forum in New York. Peasah highlighted Ghana's status as a Voluntary GCM Champion Country, backed by a National Implementation Plan for 2025-2027, and noted CCMG's ongoing advocacy since mid-2025, alongside CCMA, for ratification of the AU Free Movement Protocol across 11 countries, while officials from the Ministry of the Interior and GIZ echoed the need for a whole-of-society approach and reaffirmed Ghana's commitment, dating back to its 2018 endorsement of the Compact, to a rights-based, development-oriented vision of migration.
South Africa
Business Insider Africa
23 February 2026
South Africa uncovers long-running visa corruption in immigration office as government pushes digital reform
A South African government investigation ordered by President Cyril Ramaphosa found that a small group of Home Affairs officials had exploited the country's largely paper-based, slow-to-modernise immigration system between 2004 and 2024, treating visas and residence permits as commodities sold to the highest bidder, with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) tracing more than R16 million in direct deposits to four unnamed officials, some of whom used the proceeds to buy properties in cash or build mansions, while applications were often expedited via WhatsApp with payments routed through officials' spouses or hidden inside forms. Forensic raids on five Refugee Reception Offices, conducted with the Hawks under a Special Tribunal order, seized 237 devices for analysis and revealed a coordinated network, including religious figures such as pastors and prophets, using fake retirement confirmations, falsified financial records, sham marriages, and syndicate-backed sponsorships to secure fraudulent permits, alongside a separate identity fraud scheme, uncovered with Interpol, in which foreign nationals allegedly obtained South African passports to commit crimes abroad or seek refugee status elsewhere. In response, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber pointed to ongoing digitisation efforts, including a new electronic travel authorisation platform meant to reduce human discretion, while the SIU recommended stricter biometric and access controls and confirmed it had made 275 criminal referrals to prosecutors, with 20 officials dismissed since April of the previous year; the scandal has further damaged public trust and added political pressure on Ramaphosa's ANC government to secure successful prosecutions.
IOL
16 February 2026
Home Affairs Overhauls Migration Policy as Public Input Closes on Citizenship and Refugee Law Reform
South Africa's Department of Home Affairs closed public consultation on its White Paper on International Migration, a reform effort begun years ago to modernise citizenship and asylum policy and address gaps in the 2002 immigration laws, with spokesperson Thulani Mavuso explaining that the changes aim to "delink" citizenship from immigration status and tighten controls after finding that around 95% of asylum applications are rejected as maliciously unfounded, alongside plans to speed up the refugee appeals process while keeping assessments fair. Not all stakeholders are satisfied with the process, however: Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma of the March and March movement criticised the reform's slow pace and lack of consultation, citing grievances such as a court ruling on surnames and communities feeling "forcefully integrated" with refugees without input, and argued government should proactively set immigration policy rather than defer to court rulings, while Mavuso countered that the surname ruling stemmed from a court case rather than departmental policy and stressed that the current Refugee Act has "not served the country well," with the department now set to synthesise public feedback into forthcoming legislative reforms.
CDH
13 February 2026
The Constitutional Court Hears a Landmark Case on South Africa's International Law obligations as they pertain to the Rights of Asylum Seekers
This case centers on a legal challenge to South African provisions requiring asylum seekers who entered the country irregularly or missed the five-day reporting deadline to demonstrate "compelling reasons" or "good cause," failing which they are barred from applying for refugee status altogether, regardless of their claim's merits, exposing them to arrest, detention, and deportation back to potential persecution. The Department of Home Affairs argues this approach is a permissible reading of Article 31 of the 1951 Refugee Convention, which bars penalizing refugees for irregular entry only if they show good cause, but the applicants, Scalabrini and supporting parties including Amnesty International, the Global Strategic Litigation Council for Refugees, and the International Detention Coalition, contend the provisions go beyond a mere penalty by disqualifying people from having their asylum claims heard at all, thereby violating the non-refoulement principle enshrined in Article 33 of the Convention, section 2 of South Africa's Refugees Act, and the Constitution, and risking serious human rights violations if vulnerable individuals are returned to danger; the court has reserved judgment on the matter.
Southern Africa
The Tanzanian Times
17 February 2026
Zambia expels 80 Congolese Nationals who were illegally living in Ndola City
Zambian immigration authorities conducting a special operation against illegal immigrants in Ndola have arrested and expelled more than 80 Congolese nationals for breaching immigration procedures, part of a broader "house cleaning" sweep across neighbourhoods including Hill Crest, Mitengo, Kawama, Kansenshi and Dola Hill that has so far apprehended over 170 people of various nationalities, many of whom were refugees who had fled their camps. Following verification, 15 DR Congo refugees were forcibly returned to the Meheba refugee camp in Zambia, while 10 Congolese adults and 26 undocumented minors were deported via the Sakania border post into DRC's Haut-Katanga Province; others found studying or residing without valid permits were told to leave voluntarily, and five Congolese nationals remain in custody pending investigations that could lead to further legal action.
UNHCR
06 February 2026
Severe floods displace nearly 400,000 in Mozambique, heightening protection risks
Severe flooding since the start of the year has displaced around 392,000 people across southern and central Mozambique, particularly Gaza, Maputo, and central provinces, compounding a crisis already strained by conflict in the north that displaced over 300,000 people in the second half of 2025, with families forced to flee rapidly rising floodwaters without essential belongings or identity documents, sometimes becoming separated from children, and nearly 20,000 people evacuated by air, water, and road despite severe access constraints. An estimated 100,000 displaced people are now sheltering in roughly 100 overcrowded temporary centres, including schools and public buildings, where inadequate privacy, lighting, and services are heightening protection risks, especially for women and girls facing gender-based violence and exploitation, as well as for elderly people and those with disabilities who struggle in sites not designed for their needs, while many others remain stranded in isolated areas cut off by damaged roads and bridges that are also hampering aid delivery and disrupting schools, health facilities, and water systems.
The Guardian
02 February 2026
‘You take what you can and run’: families describe harrowing journey to escape fighting in DRC
Renewed fighting as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels advanced further south in eastern DRC, capturing Uvira near the Burundi border in December 2025 despite a US-brokered peace deal, has forced thousands of people, including farmer Dieudoné Muka, his eight-months-pregnant wife Noella Zawadi, and their children, to flee Luvungi in South Kivu on a gruelling 21-mile trek marked by relentless shelling, looted homes, and abandoned livestock, joining a mass exodus that has swelled Burundi's refugee camps to an "unprecedented" scale, with nearly 65,000 refugees now in the Busuma camp in Ruyigi alone and roughly 200,000 Congolese refugees seeking asylum in Burundi overall, according to MSF and UNHCR figures. The Muka family's journey illustrates the wider crisis, as their trek to safety was interrupted by further bombing in the town of Sange before they crossed into Burundi and confronted the full loss of their farmland, harvest, cattle, and belongings, even as aid workers like the IRC's Aimable Hakizimana warn that the rising numbers of arrivals are placing enormous strain on already stretched camp services, with MSF reporting that conditions at Busuma fall below minimum humanitarian standards.
Categories:
Tags:
- African Migration News.
- Islamic State In Africa
- Nampula Province
- Cabo Delgado Insurgency
- Mozambique Displacement
- Forced Repatriation
- Burundian Refugees
- Nyarugusu Camp
- Nduta Camp
- Tanzania Refugee Camps
- Zimbabwe
- Child Trafficking Prevention
- Undocumented Minors
- Beitbridge Border
- Healthcare Access Rights
- Operation Dudula
- Medical Xenophobia
- Johannesburg
- Human Smuggling
- Southern Route
- Ethiopian Migration
- Immigration Advisory Board
- Points-based Citizenship
- Draft White Paper
- South Africa Immigration Laws
- Lake Chad Resettlement
- Malam Fatori
- ISWAP
- Boko Haram
- Nigeria
- Refugee Returnees
- Internal Displacement
- Humanitarian Crisis
- Rapid Support Forces
- Sudanese Armed Forces
- Sudan War Displacement
- Slimane Bouhafs
- Seifeddine Makhlouf
- Tunisia
- Algeria
- Arbitrary Detention
- Political Dissidents
- UNHCR Asylum Seekers
- Non-refoulement
- Forced Return