More than 260 Angolan refugees crossed the border and looked around for shelter and food in Zambian villages in the past four days. Quoting a Thursday ‘Times of Zambia’ report, the Xinhua news agency reported that the latest arrivals had increased to about 800 the number of Angolans who sought refuge in Zambia in the past three weeks.
Zambia’s North Western Province Permanent Secretary, Maybin Mubanga, was quoted as saying on Wednesday in Solwezi, the provincial capital, that between 60 and 70 Angolan refugees were entering Zambia every day through the strategic border town of Mwinilunga. The refugees fled Angola mainly due to the prolonged civil war between government troops and rebel forces, and the worsening starvation situation in the country, Mubanga was quoted as saying. A total of 190,000 Angolan refugees were in Zambia, according to the report, in addition to more than 60,000 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other neighboring countries.
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