UN refugee agency assists with repatriation of Angolans from Namibia

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is assisting Angolan refugees to complete a 1,000 km journey from Namibia to a country many had left decades ago.

The first group of 150 Angolan refugees from Osire camp, about 300 km north of the Namibian capital, Windhoek, arrived in the Angolan border town of Katwitwi yesterday, according to UNHCR. Namibia hosts more than 18,000 Angolan refugees.

UNHCR, in collaboration with the governments of Namibia and Angola, organized the return of the refugees who fled the 27-year-long war that has left parts of Angola in ruins and littered with landmines.

Meanwhile, regular convoys have continued to assist Angolan refugees to return from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Since the launch of the voluntary repatriation programme on 20 June, some 1,500 Angolan refugees have been assisted home to the northern province of Mbanza Congo and to Luau in eastern Angola.