Some 10,000 DRC nationals left Pointe-Noire in the last two weeks as part of the campaign.

The government of Congo Brazzaville is showing no signs of let-up in its efforts to rid the country of foreigners without the right papers. Radio France Internationale, RFI, reported yesterday, July 29, 2014, that a total of 140,000 citizens from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, have either been expelled or returned home voluntarily in the last three months as a result of the drive.

The most recent deportees were those resident in the country’s commercial capital, Pointe-Noire. The government now has its eyes set on cab drivers, a profession the authorities say is no longer opened to foreigners, RFI said. United Nations officials last May demanded that the Republic of the Congo immediately stop expelling citizens from DRC. They called for investigations into allegations of sexual violence and other human rights violations in the course of the deportations.

At the time, more than 130,000 DRC nationals had already been expelled from Brazzaville, capital of Republic of the Congo since early April 2014, the UN Mission in DRC, MONUSCO, said. Zainab Hawa Bangura, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, had then urged the two countries to ensure that administrative and security officials “acted in full compliance with the principles of good neighbourliness and preserve peace and international security in conformity with the UN Charter.”

While the conditions for people to stay in a foreign country are part of the sovereign responsibility of the host country, deportations should be made in strict compliance with the principles and rules of the international law, UN reminded the authorities in Brazzaville. More than half of the deportees have been young people who were living with their parents in Congo Brazzaville. According to DRC authorities, the recent announcement by Congolese police of plans to deport illegal aliens led to the exodus.

Sequel to the furore over the expulsion of Democratic Republic of Congo nationals, the two countries on June 3, 2014, signed a new free movement of people agreement to replace that of 1999. According to the terms, people living along the 1,300 km-long frontier can henceforth cross from one side to the other for a maximum of three days with a laissez-passer or national identity card.