Luanda – At least 59,000 refugees living in neighbouring countries expressed voluntary desire to come back to Angola this year, said the Social Welfare minister, João Baptista Kussumua, Tuesday, in Luanda.
This information was released to the press on the sidelines of the working meeting the minister had to analyse the organising level of the returning process of those refugees yet living in the neighbouring nations.
The minister said that the number mentioned are those Angolan refugees living in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo Brazzaville.
According to João Baptista Kussumua, at least 17,267 refugees living in Zambia, among them 8,925, expressed their willing to come back to Angola.
In DR Congo there are 43,000 refugees who are also interested to return home, 2.500 in Namibia, 2.662 in Republic of Congo and 26 in Botswana.
The government official said that this number results from the registration done together between the Angolan Government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
João Baptista Kussumua said that this number might increase as soon as the returning process starts, as well as the government put end to the refugee statute, to be implemented at the end of the year.