Lack of "clearance" delaying return

A UNHCR official in Bangui told IRIN on Thursday that the majority of some 2,000 refugees at the port - mainly women and children - had not yet received clearance from the Congolese authorities to allow their repatriation, but a team would be arriving soon to screen them. Meanwhile, funding problems had temporarily disrupted the provision of cooked meals at the port, but "the food situation will be addressed as a matter of urgency," he said. The longer the refugees remained at the port, the more precarious their situation would become, the official noted. "This was a transit arrangement," he said, adding that the refugees did not want to be relocated to the Boubou refugee camp, some 300 km from Bangui, where they could benefit from WFP food assistance.