Refugees on half-ration as food stocks drop

Food shortages and an increase in the number of people fleeing to Zambia has forced humanitarian agencies to put all refugees on half ration. UN refugee agency UNHCR said in a statement on Thursday that the refugees came mainly from the neighbouring countries of Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. "Due to the increase in the number of refugees and insufficient resources, right now we have been obliged to put all the refugees on half ration, including new arrivals. This has resulted in an increase in cases of malnutrition, especially among newly arrived refugees," the statement said. "The new arrivals are already in bad shape and there is malnutrition, especially among the children," UNHCR spokesman Kelvin Shimo told IRIN. He said refugees had been on half-ration for about two weeks, but it was hoped that the situation would return to normal soon. "By February the situation will be rectified as we are expecting more food stocks to arrive in the country," he said. The UNHCR statement said 40,000 new refugees were registered in Zambia from January to November 2001. As a result, the Nangweshi camp in Western Province, receiving refugees from Angola, had reached its maximum capacity of 15,000. "The new arrivals at Nangweshi (8,000) are now being accommodated at a temporary site besides Nangweshi," it said. In addition, the Kala camp in Kawambwa was also reaching its maximum capacity of 25,000, making a new site necessary for arriving refugees. The statement said the agency planned to build a new camp site to accommodate the new Angolan refugees currently at Nangweshi, and to extend the Kala camp for Congolese refugees. It also wanted to register camp-based refugees this year and would like to see refugees who had been in Zambia for a long time becoming naturalised citizens. However, said UNHCR: "Perhaps the biggest challenge of all this year will be tackling the root causes of the refugee crisis and finding durable solutions for them. This, needless to say, may be difficult ... It will require difficult political initiatives and commitment of both the relevant countries and the international community."