 Angolans expelled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) seek help in their homeland
A Boeing 747 jet from Johannesburg, South Africa, touched down in Angola"s capital, Luanda, over the weekend carrying thousands of tents, sleeping mats and blankets, as well as a prefabricated warehouse.
Upon arrival, the supplies " sent in response to a request from the Angolan Government " were loaded onto army aircraft bound for Uige and Zaire provinces bordering the DRC.
Angolan authorities have said that 50,000 Angolans " most of whom had refugee status in the DRC " have either been expelled or have come back to their home country of their own accord.
"Many were not even given any opportunity to collect their personal belongings before being forced back to Angola," said Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR).
Those who have returned are living in extremely difficult conditions, he said, with the agency having found some 500 people sleeping on a cement floor in an old school building without sleeping mats or mattresses in Kitumu in Uige province.
"The returnees" stress is exacerbated because many became separated before being forced back to Angola," Mr. Mahecic noted.
When it visited the Mbaza Congo area of Zaire province three weeks ago, UNHCR found that also some 30,000 forcibly returned Angolans are in need of shelter, water, medicine and food.
Before the expulsions, the agency was already helping to pave the way for the return of those Angolans wishing to go back to their home country.
"UNCHR now looks forward to working with the Angolan and DRC governments to arrange a safe and dignified repatriation of Angolan refugees to their homeland," according to Mr. Mahecic.
As of the end of September, there were still 111,000 refugees registered in the DRC and a further 40,000 in Zambia, South Africa, the Republic of Congo and Namibia.
Source: UN News
Global 
-
-
-
U.S. President Barack Obama's top Russia adviser has said that diplomats from Washington and Moscow will likely meet in the coming weeks to work on a new UN Security Council draft resolution targeting the Syrian government over its bloody crackdown on antigovernment protesters. more
-
More than 500 protesters have gathered in Moscow's Pushkin Square to demand more government funding for science and scientists in Russia. more
-
Anders Hjemdahl of the Stockholm-based Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism talked to RFE/RL about why Western Europeans seem to know so little about the communist past. more
-
The Paris prosecutor's office has dropped an investigation into a French writer's claim that former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her. more
-
A prominent member of a Russian anarchist street-art collective who faced jail for overturning a police car has had the charges against him lifted. more
-
The Slovak parliament has approved expanding the powers of the European Union's bailout fund. more
-
A Prague court has ruled that former Belarusian presidential candidate Ales Mikhalevich should not be extradited to Belarus. more
Comments
|
Popular Right Now
Popular Commentary
New Reports
New World News
 Singer Whitney Houston, dead at 48Sundered by drug abuse and a slumping career, the talented and once beautiful Whitney Houston has passed away. - Pakistan: Short stories in Punjabi, to promote Christian values and common good
Fr. Mukhtar Alam has published a volume of stories of his mother. Stories that give "light" to those who are in the "dark" and teach the common good. At presentation, near the cathedral of Faisalabad, intellectuals, writers and leaders of the Church of Pakistan Muslim.
- Hong Kong: Hong Kong, jobs emergency: workers shortage by 2018
One government study confirms need for 14 thousand workers by 2018 to maintain economic growth at current levels. Behind this there are restrictive policies on birth control imposed by Beijing and the decision not to give citizenship to those born in the Territory.
- Myanmar: Monk Gambira, leader of the Saffron Revolution, free again
The authorities had yesterday detained him "for questioning". First released only a month ago, Gambira has spent the past three years in prison for leading protests by monks against the Burmese government.
- India: Karnataka: Jesuits and schools targeted by Hindu nationalists
Three attacks since 2011 at St. Joseph's PU College, Anekal. The religious are accused of not having displayed the national flag on Republic Day, but the president has always denied this. Silence of police and authorities. Sajan George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC): ...
|
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
Google+