UN Refugee Agency Aids Angolans from Congo
New York, Nov 3 2009 10:10AM
The United Nations refugee agency has rushed relief items to help tens of thousands of Angolans expelled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) last month.
A Boeing 747 jet from
Johannesburg, South Africa, touched down in Angola’s
capital, Luanda, over the weekend carrying thousands of
tents, sleeping mats and blankets, as well as a
prefabricated warehouse.
Upon arrival, the supplies
– sent in response to a request from the Angolan
Government – were loaded onto army aircraft bound for Uige
and Zaire provinces bordering the DRC.
Angolan
authorities have said that 50,000 Angolans – most of whom
had refugee status in the DRC – have either been expelled or
have come back to their home country of their own
accord.
“Many were not even given any opportunity
to collect their personal belongings before being forced
back to Angola,” (http://www.unhcr.org/4af01ab09.html) said Andrej
Mahecic, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home).
Those who have returned are living in extremely
difficult conditions, he said, with the agency having found
some 500 people sleeping on a cement floor in an old school
building without sleeping mats or mattresses in Kitumu in
Uige province.
“The returnees’ stress is
exacerbated because many became separated before being
forced back to Angola,” Mr. Mahecic noted.
When it
visited the Mbaza Congo area of Zaire province three weeks
ago, UNHCR found that also some 30,000 forcibly returned
Angolans are in need of shelter, water, medicine and food.
Before the expulsions, the agency was already helping
to pave the way for the return of those Angolans wishing to
go back to their home country.
“UNCHR now looks
forward to working with the Angolan and DRC governments to
arrange a safe and dignified repatriation of Angolan
refugees to their homeland,” according to Mr. Mahecic.
As of the end of September, there were still 111,000
refugees registered in the DRC and a further 40,000 in
Zambia, South Africa, the Republic of Congo and Namibia.
ENDS