UNHCR issues ID cards to refugees

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has started issuing identity cards to tens of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighbouring Republic of Congo (ROC), the agency reported. "Not having an ID card means that a refugee can run into all kinds of problems and get questioned by the authorities," said Mohamed Dayri, the deputy representative for protection in UN refugee agency's regional office in the DRC capital, Kinshasa. The agency reported that the move "could improve protection for some 440,000 people in the region". It would target "all refugees and asylum seekers above the age of 14" in both countries. The joint effort, between the agency and the two governments, was launched on 22 November in Kimaza, about 140 km west of Kinshasa. The agency said at least 2,000 ROC refugees in the DRC town of Kamina would receive their identity cards within days. The operation would then move to Pointe-Noire, ROC, in December, before continuing in the southeastern DRC city of Lubumbashi, the agency said. The two governments estimate there are 330,000 refugees and asylum seekers in the DRC and 110,000 in the ROC. "Angolans make up the majority of them in both countries," the agency reported. In addition, it said, there were some 75,000 Sudanese and 22,000 Rwandans hosted in the DRC. "Most of the refugees in the two countries are located in areas bordering on Angola and its Cabinda enclave, with a large Sudanese refugee population in northeastern DRC," the agency said.