With greater stability in Angola, refugees return from Zambia, UN agency reports

As the situation in Angola continues to stabilize with the implementation of key peace accords, hundreds of refugees from that country began returning today from Zambia, the United Nations reported.

“The first convoy of 363 returnees left Meheba Refugee Settlement in Zambia this morning,” Jennifer Pagonis, a spokesperson from the Geneva-based UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told the UN News Service.

The agency anticipates helping 40,000 Angolans to return from Zambia between now until the end of October when the rainy season starts, according to Ms. Pagonis. This is more than half the total Angolan refugee population living in camps and settlements in Zambia and more than double the number that returned from there last year.

Returnees will be brought to a reception centre at Cazombo, where they will stay for several days to attend sessions on mine awareness and HIV/AIDS and get medical assistance if required. UNHCR will provide the new arrivals with supplies such as soap, kitchen sets, blankets, a tool kit, seeds and agricultural tools. They will also receive two months’ worth of food rations on their way out.

“In preparation for this year's returns, UNHCR improved the road to Cazombo which was in bad condition after the rainy season,” Ms. Pagonis said. “We also rehabilitated departure centres and way-stations to make the journey more comfortable for the returnees.”

At the time the peace accords were signed in April 2002, about 441,000 Angolan refugees were estimated to be living in neighbouring States. UNHCR estimates some 223,000 Angolan refugees currently remain in the major asylum countries – the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Zambia, Namibia and the Republic of Congo – as well as about 14,000 in South Africa and Botswana.