Refugees can tune in for repatriation information

Angolan refugees planning to return home from southern African countries will be able to receive information on the repatriation process and conditions back home from special weekly radio bulletins. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will send a weekly update on the conditions refugees can expect to find as they voluntarily return to Angola after more than a year of peace, UNHCR external relations officer Matthew Brook told IRIN on Friday. On Wednesday the UNHCR started registering refugees in Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Namibia in preparation for their return to Angola. About 120,000 refugees, who left during the protracted civil war, have already returned spontaneously. Conditions have often been difficult for the returnees and NGOs are particularly concerned about their food security, since many do not have the tools and inputs needed to start planting crops. Brook said an important message in the broadcasts was that the repatriation programme was phased, as conditions for the refugees' return was not yet in place in all areas, and in some parts, NGOs had not even been able to gain access to due to broken bridges and poor roads. Through the radio bulletins refugees would be able to learn more about registration, which areas were suitable for repatriation and what the conditions were like, as well as hear about the experiences of people who had already returned. The messages would be broadcast in various regional languages on a range of radio stations in Southern Africa, and form part of the events leading up to World Refugee Day on 20 June, Brook said. According to the UNCHR there are 163,000 Angolan refugees in the DRC, 200,000 in Zambia, 24,500 in Namibia and 16,000 in the Republic of Congo. Eighty percent of the Angolan refugee population in these countries would like to return home. Some 66 percent would like to go home this year.