Refugees from African conflict zones landed

More than seven months after the originally announced deadline, around 150 refugees who had previously lived in Kenya have arrived in Germany by plane. According to the German Press Agency, many of them come from South Sudan, some from Congo, others from Somalia and others from other African countries.

Among the people who are considered particularly vulnerable are several single women with children. An employee of Pro Asyl observed the arrival of the refugees at Halle/Leipzig airport.

At the beginning of May, the old German government had imposed a temporary halt on admissions, citing the ongoing coalition negotiations between the CDU, CSU and SPD. The Federal Ministry of the Interior, which was still headed by Nancy Faeser (SPD) at the time, announced that no promises would be made for new admissions via the resettlement program with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) for the time being.

UN Refugee Agency proposes refugees in need of protection

In the resettlement process, the UNHCR proposes particularly vulnerable refugees to the host countries who can neither return to their home country nor remain in their first host country. German authority representatives then carry out interviews and security checks on site.

Those who are accepted do not have to apply for asylum in Germany, but instead receive a residence permit for three years. If integration is successful, permanent settlement is possible at a later date.

Flight canceled at the last minute in May

According to the refugee rights organization Pro Asyl, the flight was canceled at the last minute. Pro Asyl later supported some of them in the legal proceedings in Germany. At the end of October, the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court ruled on the case of a woman from South Sudan who suffers from a neurological disorder and had been selected for resettlement together with five relatives. The court ruled that she should be granted entry.

At the beginning of May, the family was flown from the Kakuma refugee camp to the Kenyan capital Nairobi, from where they were supposed to travel to Germany. After the flight from Nairobi scheduled for May 8 was canceled at short notice, the family was brought back to Kakuma.