UNHCR says refugees crossing into DRC, Zambia

Nearly 20,000 refugees have fled in recent days across Angola’s northern border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a UNHCR official told IRIN on Thursday. The announcement confirmed reports last week that thousands of Angolan refugees were moving into the DRC as the war between government forces and the UNITA opposition movement pushes deeper into northern Angola. The official also said a few hundred refugees had also crossed into Zambia fleeing fighting in central and southern districts. He said the new wave of refugees entered DRC through the Luvo border post from the Zaire Province capital, M’banza Congo, which lies 100 km south of the border and which was captured by UNITA forces some 10 days ago. The UNHCR said that as of 2 February, 6,040 refugees, 4,000 of them children, had been registered in Songolo, DRC, some 50 km north of the border. A further 4,080 refugees had been registered at Kimpese, about 100 km north of Songolo. Reports also indicated that there were an estimated 9,000 refugees camped in the southern DRC port town of Matadi.