By Jonathan Beale
BBC News, Washington
The United States has suspended a programme aimed at reuniting refugees in Africa with relatives in the US because of widespread fraud.
The US state department said DNA tests showed the majority of those applying had no family relationships in the US.
Thousands of Africans have been allowed to settle in the US under its P3 family reunification programme.
The scheme offers close family members the chance to join loved ones who have already made America their home.
But DNA tests on applicants in seven African countries showed that only around 20% of those trying to enter the US actually had a family relationship.
The DNA tests were first mostly carried out on refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.
After the evidence of rampant fraud was uncovered the tests were widened, and then, after proof of more fraud, the decision was made to suspend the scheme.
The applicants were not tested with the DNA of a relative in the US, but with each other - for example a woman with children who claimed to be joining a husband in the US.
It was found that people claiming to be related often had no link.
The Priority Three (P3) programme to reunite families had been running since 1990.
A US state department spokesman said that it would now be examining the future of the scheme.
(BBC)
<< Back