Congolese refugees head for home under UNHCR plan

Start of three-year programme of repatriation

The first group of Congolese refugees ousted from their country during civil conflict in the late 1990s has returned home to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as part of a new UN-backed three year voluntary repatriation programme. Some 415 refugees who had sought shelter in Zambia for over a decade were taken from Mwange refugee camp in the Northern Province district of Mporokoso to Kalemie in the DRC via Lake Tanganyika. Their return home, which was preceded by a big ceremony in the camp, marked the launch of the three-year programme that is being led by the United National High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and supported by the government and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Successive convoys were expected to follow in an ongoing exercise that should see 20,000 Congolese return home from Zambia this year. Zambia is host to around 60,000 Congolese refugees at present. About 40,000 of these are in the camps of Mwange and Kala in the far north of the country, and Meheba and Mayukwayukwa in the west and north-west. The rest have settled among Zambians. UNHCR said it would only send refugees to areas in the DRC that provided basic services like schools, health clinics and access to clean water, were clear of landmines and which were accessible by road. On arrival, refugees will be given basic supplies and taught about mine awareness and HIV/AIDS issues. Vedasto Mwesiga, UNHCR acting representative in Lusaka, said: "There has been an enthusiastic response to our programme of helping refugees return gradually to areas that our staff in DRC have identified as peaceful and having the essential facilities that would make returns sustainable." However, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that the population influx into Kalemie was threatening the water supply for the city's existing 250,000 inhabitants. The city, which is in the Katanga province of DRC, has had to deal with power problems recently that have upset water supplies from the local water company. ICRC said its Kalemie office was closely monitoring the situation. The start of the Congolese repatriation follows the completion of a four-year voluntary repatriation of Angolan refugees, mainly from Zambia and DRC. The programme officially ended in December, but the last of the 410,000 Angolan returnees were flown home in March.