21st April, 2017
The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) is shipping tents, mosquito nets and other essential relief items to Angola, where some 9,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have fled this month alone.
Mr Babar Baloch, spokesperson at the Office of the High Commissioner for UNHCR, told reporters at the UN’s Geneva Office on Friday.
“Refugees reported fleeing attacks from militia groups, who are targeting police, military officials, and civilians who they believe are supporting or representing the Government.
“The refugees are fleeing from the Kasai region, a formerly peaceful area that turned violent in mid-2016, forcing more than one million civilians to run away.
“The new arrivals are terrified and still fear for their lives and mentioned they do not have any immediate plans to return home.
“Some parents have reportedly sent their children across the border, worrying they would be forcibly recruited by the militias if they had stayed in the DRC,” Baloch said.
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The UNHCR official expressed particular concern about the situation of children, many of whom are arriving malnourished and sick “suffering from diarrhoea, fever and malaria”.
Those fleeing into Angola continue to arrive mainly in Dundo, the capital of north-eastern Luanda Norte Province, Baloch said.
He said UNHCR is sending an additional emergency team to the town on Saturday, to support relief efforts.
The UNHCR official pointed out that there are concerns that the situation will worsen as Angola’s wet season peaks in April.
According to him, the situation further complicates the living conditions and the health of refugees, particularly women, children, the elderly and the disabled.