Military

DATE=10/31/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-268666

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

BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN

DATELINE=GENEVA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The U-N's refugee agency, the U-N-H-C-R, says about 18-thousand Angolan refugees are massing at the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports the refugees hope to get into the D-R-C so they can escape fighting between the government and UNITA forces in Angola.

TEXT: The U-N refugee agency says the 18-thousand Angolans have gathered in border villages waiting to cross into the D-R-C's province of South Badundu, southeast of the capital Kinshasa. The agency says the Angolans are fleeing clashes between government forces and UNITA rebels in Angola's Lunda Norte province.

U-N-H-C-R spokesman Kris Janowski says the refugees are expected to cross to the D-R-C border town of Kahemba.

/// JANOWSKI ACT ///

It seems that the fighting over the past few weeks has intensified and a lot of people have been leaving, mostly civilians, villagers basically fleeing various clashes and fighting - but also sympathizers and even combatants of the UNITA rebel movement.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Janowski says the refugee agency already is caring for about 10-thousand Angolan refugees in the area of Kahemba in the D-R-C. He says the expected new influx from Angola will almost triple the number of refugees in that part of the D-R-C who will need assistance. He says the agency is rushing supplies from Kinshasa to Kahemba, but he says road conditions are so bad that it will take about 10 days before the trucks are able to reach the refugees.

/// JANOWSKI ACT ///

The airlifting is not an option at the moment because of shortage of aircraft fuel in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The road is muddy, bad and dotted with military checkpoints. So, it takes forever to get there.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Janowski says that since the agency already has a stockpile of food and non-food items in Kahemba, he doesn't expect any major food shortages to occur before the supplies arrive.

The D-R-C already hosts 170-thousand Angolan refugees. Zambia, the D-R-C's southern neighbor, is host to another 180,000 Angolans. Both groups of refugees have fled for the same reason: to escape the fighting in their country. (Signed)

NEB/LS/KL/TDW