UNHCR/DRC government plan for Angolan refugees

UNHCR today approached authorities in the port of Matadi, southwest of Kinshasa on the border with Angola, to plan for a site for recently arrived Angolan refugees, a UNHCR statement said. An estimated 12,000 Angolans fled M’banza Congo, in Angola’s Zaire province, at the beginning of the month when Angolan UNITA rebels overran government forces. Unlike most of the nearly 150,000 Angolan refugees in the DRC, the 8,000 new arrivals in Songololo and 4,000 in Kimpese have not been able to find shelter with the local population. “If a camp is established for the refugees, the group would be moved further from the border, which is only about 20 kms from Songololo,” the statement said. UNHCR staff will be travelling again tomorrow to the sites in Bas Congo to determine if any refugees are returning on their own to Angola. Several unconfirmed reports indicate that government forces may have retaken the town of M’banza Congo. There are approximately 300,000 Angolan refugees in DRC, Republic of Congo, Namibia and Zambia. Most are settled along the borders with their country. UNHCR provides direct assistance to some 40,000 in the DRC, 12,000 in the Congo, 2,500 in Namibia and 34,000 in Zambia.