IOM's efforts to provide repatriation assistance to Congolese refugees who wish to return from the Republic of Zambia to their homes in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been stepped up this week with the opening of a new land route.
On Thursday, a first IOM convoy transporting 345 refugees left Kala refugee camp in northern Zambia to travel some 300 kms to an IOM reception centre in the border town of Pweto, where they are provided with food rations and onward transportation to their final destinations.
Previous convoys left Zambia's Mwange and Kala refugee camps to travel to Mpulungu, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, where the refugees boarded a ship to sail to reception centres in Moba and Kalemie in eastern DRC.
The repatriation, which was launched on 3 May, has so far been limited to three convoys per month pending road repairs which will open new land routes for faster returns.
"There's been a large turn out at registration and departure centres," says David Coomber, who coordinates the repatriation operation for IOM. "Refugees are eager to return home and we hope this new land route will increase our return capacity."
Over the past two months, IOM has assisted more than 2,400 refugees return from Zambia to the DRC. There are currently an estimated 43,000 refugees from DRC residing in Zambia. Working with its UN partners, IOM aims to assist up to 20,000 Congolese refugees before the onset of the rainy season in November.
Seed funding for this operation is provided by the IOM-UNHCR Rapid Response Transportation Fund (RRTF). IOM urgently requires USD 5.4 million to continue this important repatriation operation.
Since 2003, the IOM office in Zambia has provided orderly and safe repatriation assistance to more than 70,000 Angolan refugees from Zambia and to many other refugees from Burundi, Rwanda, and Liberia.
For more information, please contact Josiah Ogina at IOM Lusaka, Tel: +260 1 25 40 55, Email: jogina@iom.int