Internal immigration records from northern Malawi reveal how a little-scrutinised border crossing is being used to move migrants from East and Central Africa toward routes leading to South Africa.
The documents describe a transport chain operating through the Chitipa District, where migrants are reportedly ferried across the border by motorcycle taxi before being transferred to local vehicles travelling south through the country.
The details emerged after immigration officers stopped a taxi at a checkpoint in Chitipa on 12 April and arrested two Tanzanian nationals travelling without documents. The case illustrates how a remote crossing point on Malawi’s northern frontier may form part of a wider migration corridor linking the Great Lakes region to southern Africa.
Immigration officials intercepted the vehicle carrying Baraka Juma and John Nkhapela, both from Kigoma Region, a region on the shores of Lake Tanganyika.
According to Malawi’s department of immigration and citizenship services, the pair told authorities they were travelling towards Mozambique.
An internal report compiled by the Chitipa border office outlines how the two men entered Malawi. The document states they crossed from Tanzania on a motorcycle taxi through the Isongole border crossing, where they were then transferred to a taxi driver waiting on the Malawian side.
Authorities stopped the vehicle before it could travel further south. During the same week, immigration officers and police arrested 23 undocumented migrants from Burundi in a night operation in Chitipa following a public tip-off. All 25 migrants are awaiting court appearances under Malawi’s Immigration Act.
Arrests of undocumented migrants occur regularly in northern Malawi. However, the internal report provides an unusually detailed description of how migrants may be transported across the border.
While the report names the crossing point and describes the staged transfer between motorcycle and taxi transport, those details do not appear in the public statement issued by immigration authorities.
The statement instead warned of a “continued influx of irregular migrants”, citing porous borders and urging the public to report suspicious activity.
It did not identify the Isongole border crossing, nor did it refer to the motorcycle operator or taxi driver described in the internal report. The statement also does not indicate whether the transport operators were investigated or arrested.
This difference leaves unanswered questions about whether authorities have identified individuals facilitating the movement of migrants across the border.
The Isongole border crossing lies in mountainous terrain where northern Malawi meets Tanzania’s Ileje District. Compared with the larger Songwe–Kasumulu border post, roughly 270km to the southeast, Isongole handles far less cross-border traffic.
Lower traffic volumes can also mean less monitoring. The crossing has appeared in earlier smuggling-related arrests. In 2021, immigration authorities in Chitipa detained 13 undocumented migrants from Burundi and a Malawian suspected of assisting them.
Officials confiscated a motorcycle believed to have transported the migrants across the same border crossing from Tanzania. A resident of Mwankumbwa village was subsequently charged with aiding illegal entry under Malawi’s Immigration Act. Although the case suggested Isongole was already being used as a transport route for migrants, authorities did not publicly connect that incident to broader regional migration patterns.
The April arrests again identify the crossing but do not reference the earlier case. The origin of the two Tanzanian migrants offers insight into the wider migration context.
The Kigoma region borders the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and hosts large refugee populations from across the Great Lakes region. Refugee camps such as Nyarugusu and Nduta house tens of thousands of refugees from Burundi and the DRC.
Under Tanzanian policy, refugees in these camps face strict limits on movement and employment. Migration researchers say such restrictions can encourage attempts to travel onward.
One route runs south through Malawi. Migration analysts describe an overland pathway connecting the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa to South Africa via Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique.
Along this route, migrants move from western Tanzania into northern Malawi, pass through districts such as Karonga District and continue toward Lilongwe before attempting to cross into Mozambique.
Authorities in the region have repeatedly intercepted migrants from Burundi, the DRC and Ethiopia travelling along this corridor.
The April arrests in Chitipa align with broader migration patterns across eastern and southern Africa. The transport model described in the Chitipa report resembles smuggling patterns previously documented along the Malawi–Tanzania border.
Investigations into activity near the Songwe–Kasumulu border post have described migrants crossing the Songwe River by canoe at night before being transferred to vehicles travelling south.
Some migrants have been transported toward Dzaleka refugee camp, Malawi’s main refugee settlement near Lilongwe. Motorcycle taxis have also been documented transporting migrants across informal crossing points during the day. The Isongole route appears to rely on similar staged handovers between different transport operators but in a quieter location with less scrutiny.
The immigration report confirms that the two Tanzanian nationals arrested in April have been charged with illegal entry. However, several issues remain unresolved.
The document does not indicate whether authorities identified the motorcycle taxi operator who transported the migrants across the border. It also does not name the Malawian taxi driver who collected them inside Chitipa District.
Nor does it state whether any officials stationed between the border crossing and the checkpoint where the migrants were stopped are under investigation.
Past cases in northern Malawi have raised concerns about corruption within migration enforcement structures.
In 2020, a police intelligence dossier reportedly linked officers operating near the Songwe corridor to payments from smuggling networks. Another case the same year involved investigators in Mzuzu accused of accepting bribes to facilitate the movement of Somali migrants toward Lilongwe.
The available documents relating to the April arrests do not indicate whether similar issues are being examined in the Isongole corridor. In official accounts, migrants detained in northern Malawi typically appear as undocumented entrants facing prosecution.
The 23 Burundians and two Tanzanians arrested in April are recorded primarily in legal terms. The documents do not indicate whether any may qualify for asylum or refugee protection.
Nor do they address the circumstances that may have prompted their journeys. Research on migration routes through the Great Lakes region suggests that migrants often face robbery, detention and extortion during transit. Many rely on smuggling networks at some stage of the journey.
Some migrants detained in northern Malawi may previously have lived in refugee camps in Tanzania. Others may be economic migrants seeking work further south. The Chitipa report does not attempt to determine which of these situations applies in the April arrests.
The migration route highlighted by the arrests lies within a region where international organisations already monitor population movements.
The International Organisation for Migration has assisted migrants returning from Malawi and Tanzania in recent years, while the Mixed Migration Centre tracks migration trends across eastern and southern Africa.
At the same time, Malawi and Tanzania have been expanding cross-border economic cooperation. In February, the two governments launched a simplified trade regime intended to formalise small-scale commerce and encourage traders to use official border posts.
The initiative focuses primarily on the larger Songwe crossing. The smaller Isongole crossing identified in the Chitipa arrests receives little attention in these efforts.
But the immigration report suggests that along this quiet mountain border, migrants are already moving through a corridor that connects refugee-hosting regions in East Africa to migration routes leading south.
This article was made possible by a partnership with the Centre for Investigative Journalism Malawi
A quiet mountain crossing is forming a corridor from the Great Lakes toward southern Africa
