Dundo – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced plans to start in coming days negotiations with the governments of Angola and Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) aimed to resume the repatriation process of the refugees located in Lóvua, Angola’s eastern Lunda Norte province, since May 2017.
In August 2019, there was spontaneous repatriation of 14,724 DRC refugees who decided to leave the Lóvua area back to DRC.
The move prompted a tripartite Angola-DRC-UNHCR meeting, whose agreement allowed a new repatriation process of 2,912 refugees to the country of origin.
The process was suspended due to the covid-19.
According to UNHCR representative in Angola, Victor Tani, an assessment has been underway to determine the number of refugees who want to return home and how many want to remain in Angola.
Currently, Lóvua field is home to 6,800 refugees. And over 3,000 scattered in several localities of Dundo city but who are being monitored by UNHCR and by local authorities.
