South Africa: Number of asylum seekers rise sharply in first quarter

The number of people applying for asylum in South Africa rose sharply in the first three months of this year, according to government figures released last week. In addition to the usual countries of origin such as Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Zimbabwe, new trends emerged with requests from people from Malawi, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, China, United Republic of Tanzania and Ethiopia. Zimbabweans were by far the largest number of applicants in every reception office.