Military

DATE=10/20/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-268205

TITLE=U-N-H-C-R / ANGOLA REFUGEES (L ONLY)

BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN

DATELINE=GENEVA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The United Nations refugee agency, U-N-H-C-R, has begun repatriating several hundred Angolan refugees to Cabinda province from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Congo. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports more than 350 refugees will be transported home.

TEXT: The U-N refugee agency has started repatriating some 277 Angolans from the Tshela camps in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On Saturday, another 80 Angolans will go home from Pointe Noire in the Republic of Congo.

U-N-H-C-R spokeswoman Delphine Marie says these refugees are among several thousand who fled the oil-rich enclave of Cabinda to escape fighting between the Angolan government and a secessionist group. She says they have been living in exile for 25 years and did not flee from the civil war between the government and UNITA rebels.

/// MARIE ACT ///

Last year in 1999, U-N-H-C-R led a missions to Cabinda enclave and ascertained that their areas of origin were safe for return. Furthermore, a lot of these Angolans expressed the wish to repatriate. That's why we started a repatriation operation last year. In late 1999, there were 800 Angolans who were repatriated and this year again, there is a new move.

/// END ACT ///

The Tshela region is still hosting some 15-hundred Angolan refugees. Another 20-thousand are in Pointe-Noire. Ms. Marie says many of these refugees say they want to go home. The U-N refugee agency will speed returns next year until all or most of the more than 20-thousand Angolan refugees have gone home.

The U-N-H-C-R is providing returnees with plastic sheeting, food, kitchen utensils and other basic supplies to help them restart their lives. Local authorities are allocating a plot of land to each family.

Ms. Marie says the U-N-H-C-R will monitor the security of the region to make sure the refugees are safe. (Signed)

NEB/LS/LMK/JWH