Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Luanda (Fides Service) - The repatriation of a group of 42 Angolan refugees from Botswana last Sunday 18 December marked the end of a three year voluntary repatriation programme launched by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees UNHCR, thanks to which thousands of Angolans have returned to their country in organised convoys, according to a UNHCR report.
The 42 Angolans living in Dukwi camp in north east Botswana were flown to Meninge, southern Angola where they were given a sum of money to reach their villages. They were also supplied with non food aid kits, consisting of cooking utensils, tools for building homes, seeds and tools for farming.
Each person was given a World Food Programme two months food supply. Since the voluntary repatriation programme to Angola, started in 2003, over 123,000 refugees returned to their villages with the assistance of UNHCR.
UNHCR also assisted 89,000 people in the country who returned on their own. It is estimated that after the cease fire agreement in April 2002 which marked the end of 27 years of civil war in Angola, half a million Angolans returned to their country with or without the assistance of UNHCR.
In 2005 more than 28,000 Angolans were repatriated with the assistance of UNHCR from bordering countries, mainly Zambia and Democratic Congo; 15,000 on charter flights and the remaining 13,000 in convoys overland. Almost 9,000 refugees benefited from UNHCR assistance in Angola after returning on their own and requesting help at UNHCR transit centres. Nevertheless at the end of this year about 96,000 Angolans will still be outside their country: some in camps in Zambia, Democratic Congo and Namibia, others in urban centres where they are self-supporting, and others have registered and settled in other countries.
There exists also an imprecise number of Angolans who have settled in Zambia and Democratic Congo, where UNHCR is leading registration operations to find out their intentions with regard to repatriation. Although UNHCR is able to provide assisted transport for only a few most vulnerable cases, it will assist the resettlement of people who return on their own to Angola. With regards to Angolan refugees still in Zambia who have not benefited from UNHCR assisted repatriation their future will be discussed during the next meeting of a Three-Party Commission Zambia, Angola and UNHCR in January. (Agenzia Fides 21/12/2005 righe 39 parole 465)
