Mbanza Kongo – The first group of Angolan citizens living as refugees in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) arrived last Friday in the Angolan city of Mbanza Kongo, Zaire Province, in the ambit of a recent voluntary repatriation process.
The group, made up of 86 families and totalling 252 citizens, came in a caravan made up of ten buses, through the Luvo border checkpoint, about 60 kilometres to the north of Mbanza Kongo City.
The returnees, who managed to bring some of their belongings, were accompanied by members of the Angolan Embassy in DRC and by senior officials from the UNHCR.
In Mbanza Kongo, the returnees have been accommodated in the Kiowa transit centre, in the outskirts of the city, where the Welfare and Social Reintegration Ministry, in coordination with the Zaire Province government, created the conditions to assist the sheltered citizens with food, medical treatment, civil registration and transportation.
A source from the UNHCR contacted by ANGOP has informed that this repatriation process will be taking place on Fridays.