UK Sends Asylum Seekers Back to Congo

The UK has chosen to send back almost 10,000 Congolese asylum seekers Some of the asylum seekers are at risk of being forcibly removed from the UK. Sending people back to the Democratic Republic of Congo was suspended back in 2007. However, now it has been recently resumed.

The revelations about possible torture that go on in Congo came as the government intensified its operation to remove Congolese from the UK. Just last Thursday, the first charter flight, carrying 24 Congolese, was sent to Kinshasa. This is the first flight carrying asylum seekers back to Congo in over two years.

One man, Nsimba Kumbi, age 33, that was removed from the UK following his detention in the Campsfield emigration removal center located in Oxfordshire, was taken to the Democratic Republic of Congo capital. Here he was taken to a secret police headquarters, Kin Maziere, which is the headquarters of the general directorate of intelligence and special services. It was here that the man said that he was tortured for almost three weeks.

Nsimba said that during this time he was very badly beaten. He said that he was forced to give a male guard oral sex and even received burns. Another refused asylum seeker, Rabin Waba Muambi, age 42, was removed form the UK on a separate flight. He too was taken to Kin Maziere where he was beaten and later stripped down and force to lie outside staring up at the hot sun.

Rabin went on to say that the government in Congo views any people that are deported from the UK as enemies. The guards located at Kin Maziere would beat them and keep saying things like "You are a spy, give us information." Rabin said that he was kicked and force to drink his own urine.