Large numbers of refugees returning home

Thousands of Angolans continue to spontaneously return to their homeland following the end of that country's decades-long civil war, said the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The organisation said in a statement released on Tuesday that nearly 8,000 Angolans had returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since the beginning of the year and at least another 4,500 had returned from Zambia. The figures of returnees were based on the number of Angolans who had reported to UNHCR that they were leaving. "Many do not report to UNHCR, however, so the actual number of spontaneous returns could be much higher," the agency said. UNHCR was deploying staff and resources "as much as possible and with the limited funds we have available. We have managed to increase our monitoring capacity along the borders and in the areas of return". Several field missions have been sent to the four identified main provinces of return - Moxico, Uige, Zaire and Cuando Cubango - and they have started assembling returnee monitoring reports, UNHCR said. The agency said most Angolan refugees in the DRC had indicated they would prefer to wait for an organised UNHCR repatriation programme, due to start in 2003. In Zambia, some 4,500 Angolan spontaneous returns have been recorded from Meheba and Mayukwayukwa refugee settlements since April 2002. "According to local authorities, at least another 6,000 Angolans are believed to have left this year from villages in the same areas," UNHCR said. Moxico province is reported to have received the largest number of returnees so far. Authorities in Luena, Moxico's provincial capital, have reported some 14,800 returnees have crossed at Luau, on the border with the DRC. Another 6,500 spontaneous returnees, mainly from Zambia, are believed to have arrived in and around Cazombo, also in Moxico. UNHCR warned: "The absorption capacity in Angola for the return of an estimated 4 million internally displaced persons and some 470,000 refugees is extremely weak. Angola faces severe food insecurity and malnutrition. There is also a lack of potable water and poor sanitation, shelter, health and education facilities. Many parts of the country [such as Cazombo] are inaccessible because of landmines and destroyed roads and bridges."