Angola
Repatriation of Angolans from the Congos

afrol.com, 20 October  - UNHCR today repatriated 277 Angolans from the Tshela sites in Bas Congo (Congo Kinshasa, DRC), UNHCR spokeswoman Delphine Marie informed. This is the first repatriation to Cabinda since 1999. Meanwhile, more refugees keep streaming into Zambia from the eastern front, including UNITA fighters. 

Another 80 Angolans from Pointe Noire in the Congo Republic were scheduled to be returned to the enclave of Cabinda in Angola Saturday. Some of the returnees have been in exile since they fled fighting for independence in Cabinda 25 years ago. The 277 returnees were transferred in eight trucks from the sites to a transit centre in Boma (DRC), before an onward journey back to Angola. Those going back will receive a returnee assistance kit which includes plastic sheeting, food, kitchen utensils, corrugated iron sheets and plywood. They will also have a plot of land allocated to them by the local authorities. 

This has been the first repatriation to Cabinda since late 1999 when some 800 Angolans voluntarily repatriated with UNHCR assistance, after assessment missions to their home areas had found that they were safe to return to.

The Tsheba region is still hosting some 1,490 refugees from Cabinda and there are 20,000 more in Pointe-Noire. There are also a total of 104,000 assisted refugees from other provinces of Angola in the DRC, of which some 40,000 are in the Bas-Congo area.

More refugees head for Zambia
While the repatriation of Angolans to Cabinda documents that tension has become lower in the northernmost Angolan province, intense fighting in the east are making many Angolans flee into Zambia. Several thousand Angolan refugees have entered Zambia in recent weeks, including disarmed UNITA rebel fighters, following the fighting between UNITA and government forces in Moxico province. According to Associated Press, Zambia has complained that the fighting itself has spilled across the border and that its own troops and civilians have been killed and injured. 

On Tuesday, a UNHCR spokesman informed that the UNHCR and Zambian authorities had agreed to move former UNITA fighters, many of them ill with malaria and respiratory problems, to a new camp in the east of the country, far away from the Angolan border. The transfer might be seen in the light of the possible war spillover into Zambia.

The transfer of these UNITA refugees may begin as early as this week, the spokesman informed. The new camp will also house former fighters from the DRC, currently held in Zambian prisons. The new site at Patauke, some 350 kms north east of Lusaka will house 275 former UNITA fighters and their families. Some 200 UNITA fighters who have fled Angola since September 23 are currently staying in the open at Solwezi in north-western Zambia. Roughly half of them are believed to be suffering from malaria and respiratory problems. The remaining 75 are in Mungu on the Zambezi River in western Zambia. The new site will also house the families of the combatants. They will be accommodated at a separate camp within the same site. 

UNHCR and Zambian officials will do individual screening of the former combatants. Another separate group of 95 former participants in the civil war in the DRC will be released from custody and also moved to the new site. 

Meanwhile, Zambian police have accused refugees of undermining police efforts to reduce crime, the Zambia Daily Mail said on Monday. Police spokesman Lemmy Kayoba is quoted as saying police will take corrective measures, including collaboration with UNHCR, to monitor refugees on the streets, Associated Press reported. 

The situation in Angola during the three last decades has been characterised by war with devastating effects on the Angolan social fabric. This led to the flight of about 300,000 Angolan refugees to neighbouring countries, mainly DRC and Zambia. Almost one third of these refugees left the country after the upsurge in fighting between May 1998 and June 1999. Over 20,000 Angolans have sought refuge in Zambia since the start of a fresh government campaign against the rebel movement in October last year. Zambia is hosting some 225,000 refugees, including some 180,000 Angolans. The remainder are Congolese from the DRC, Burundians, Rwandese and Somalis.

Source: Based on UNHCR

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