Details of the asylum seekers would be taken at such centres to see

if they met international criteria for refugees, said Gansalves Sengo,

the head of the centre for the assistance of refugees in Mozambique.

He told Canal de Mozambique, an independent newsheet, that centres

would be created in the north and central provinces of Mozambique.

These areas shared a territorial border with Zimbabwe.

Sengo said the move would result in better support for the refugees

by the Mozambican government, with the assistance of the UN High

Commissioner for Refugees.

While Zimbabweans who had fled into Mozambique had not been

officially documented, there were estimated to be several hundreds

thousand in the country.

Mozambique had 7000 registered refugees at the moment, mostly from

the Great Lakes region. About 4500 of them lived in the Marratane

refugee centre in northern province of Nampula.

Another refugee centre was located near the capital Maputo.

Sapa