Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Fides Service)- As part of its voluntary-repatriation programme for Angolan refugees in the next two weeks the United Nations High Commission for Refugees UNHCR is planning an airlift to help 303 Angolans return home from Democratic Congo with two flights 12 June and 19 June from Kinshasa to Luanda.
Six families, 25 people, are refugees in Lubumbashi, the second largest town in Congo situated in the south east and 2,000 km east of the capital. The rest are in Kinshasa. UNHCR hopes to help the remaining 1,500 Angolan refugees living in urban areas of Congo to repatriate before the end of the year. Last year UNHCR helped 624 Angolans repatriate. In almost thirty years of civil war over 2,400 Angolans fled their country taking refuge in Democratic Congo.
Before the flight home this group of refugees will spend the night in Kinshasa where they will be given meals and 100 dollars to start life again when they arrive home. On arriving in Luanda Luanda the repatriates will be given food aid and non food aid. The Angolan government insists on making contact with the family of the returnees families before granting permission for ‘urban’ repatriation. This is a long and complex process.
There are about 24,000 Angolans living in refugee camps and other sites in Democratic Congo mainly in the provinces of Bandundu and Lower Congo on the border with the northern provinces of Angola. Another 72,000 Angolan refugees settled autonomously in Democratic Congo. During the year UNHCR will continue to organise repatriation - mainly via land - from Democratic Congo to Angola. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 13/6/2005 righe 31 parole 376)
