Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
São Paulo (Agenzia Fides) - Since 2010 about 30 displaced people from Africa have asked the Brazilian government for asylum. They live in the states of the Amazon jungle. They come from Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, with regard to West Africa, Kenya for East Africa, Zimbabwe for Southern Africa, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). According to the International Commision of the Red Cross, the violence between the Boba and Lobala clans in the DRC, has spread throughout the area of the equator, and over 100 thousand people have fled to neighboring countries. That particular conflict is just one of an ongoing series in the country, where since the mid-eighties 4 to 5 million people have died. The wars in several countries of the Great Lakes region, in addition to the characteristic of continuous ethnic and genocide conflicts, have also found roots formany international interests due to the control of strategic mineral deposits.
Currently in the region of the Amazon jungle in Brazil there are 140 refugees, mostly from Bolivia, and another 700 different nationalities waiting for a response from the government for asylum. The procedures last 6 months. This nation of 192 million inhabitants has no contributions for the refugees. According to the Brazilian legislation, passed in 1997, entering the country with false documents does not preclude the request for asylum to a foreign citizen. Most of the approximately 4,500 refugees are located in the southeast, in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul and in the inner State of São Paulo. 64% of the total, 2841 are from Africa. The largest groups come from Angola (1686), Colombia (634), DRC (462), Liberia (258) and Iraq (203). (AP) (Agenzia Fides 20/09/2011)
