Zambia August 2006 |
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| Refugees repatriation, (Times Zambia, 2006-08-15):-Zambia has won international acclaim for her hospitality and friendly atmosphere to the outside world amid the ever prevalent peace and tranquillity.The country has thus been a second home to thousands of asylum seekers from mainly war-torn neighbouring countries. Some of the notable beneficiaries of this asylum include South African President Thabo Mbeki and many Zimbabwean freedom fighters came to Zambia for safty, during the apartheid and liberation struggle era. Among the nations that had witnessed their citizens trek to this landlocked country in the recent past due to civil strife are Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Rwanda and Angola. Currently, Zambia is still gobbling with thousands of refugees in make shift refugee camps and resettlement areas while thousands more, especially the formally educated, have been integrated in rural communities and cities.Amid this hospitable atmosphere, that has actually earned the nation international recognition, are economic and social implications that entail the host Government parting away with more resources to address this issue of rising refugee population. Besides, the nation has also played a key role in successful brokering of peace in most of its neighbouring countries hence the need for the repatriation of some refuge seekers to their countries of origin to enable them lead productive lives again, away from camps, and hence contribute to their countries’ economic development. Angola, being a case in point, was hit by a civil war for over two decades leading to thousands of its citizens crossing over to Zambia while others were born in the host country and have little knowledge of their home country. However the death of rebel leader Jonas Savimbi culminated into substantial peace resulting in the birth of a voluntary repatriation programme for Angolan refugees courtesy of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the donor community and the two Governments. About three years ago, the voluntary repatriation movement was introduced amid a massive sensitisation programme among the refugee community on the need to return home due to the prevailing peace. The exercise was scheduled to run until December 2005 with the hope of repatriating about 63 000 refugees but the set target was not met due to logistical constraints and hence an extension to December 2006.However, financial assistance from the donor community to the IOM, an organ responsible for the repatriation of refugees, was erratic and hence negatively affecting the implementation of the planned repatriation despite the Zambian Government having submitted the figures for budgeting and lobbied the assistance at various international fora for the required US 4.6 million. The UNHCR has, nonetheless, re-allocated some of its resources from other programmes to the repatriation exercise which had stalled earlier in the year. This followed a tripartite commission meeting involving the UNHCR, the Angolan and the Zambian governments. To mark the resumption of the voluntary repatriation exercise, about 45 refugees from Maheba refugee camp were this week repatriated, by air, to Angola following a colourful ceremony held at Ndola International Airport and attended by Government officials from the two countries and a highly powered UNHCR delegation. To grace the occasion was Zambia’s Acting Home Affairs Permanent Secretary James Mfula who urged the remaining Angolan Refugees to take the decision to return home due to the prevailing peace. Mr Mfula called on the international community to donate the required funds to ensure the voluntary repatriation movement, which comes to an end this year, was successfully concluded. He expressed Government’s gratitude to the Angolan Government for its commitment in assisting its nationals return home through the provision of an aircraft for the repatriation airlifts.The Acting Permanent Secretary however, bemoaned lack of funding following the extension of the repatriation movements due to the high numbers of refugees willing to return to their country of origin. “Those Angolans delaying are urged to seize the opportunity created to come up in numbers to take advantage of the limited available resources and time to return to a peaceful Angola so that they too could contribute to its development. “Despite this bleak outlook, the Zambian Government remains hopeful as the theme in this year’s World Refugee Day in the international community coming to the aid of the Angolan Refugee chapter can close with the knowledge that we endeavored to tackle the challenge before us,” he said. Mr Mfula also thanked UNHCR,IOM the World Food Programme (WFP) and the donor community for the commitment to ensure the success of the repatriation programme. UNHCR Regional Officer in Charge Abel Mbilinyi said since the commencement of the exercise in 2003, over 63, 000 Angolan refugees had been repatriated and about 14, 000 had indicated their wish to return home.Mr Mbilinyi said UNHCR would utilise its resources from other budgets to repatriate refugees by air and road and was optimistic that the IOM would attract sufficient funding to join the process. He challenged the Zambian Government to formulate a legal regime that would ensure sustainable integration of the refugees that may opt to remain in the country. Mr Mbilinyi thanked the people of Zambia and the Angolan Refugees for keeping the asylum doors open for persons with genuine need for protection and for being law abiding and contributing to the host country’s economic development respectively. And Zambia Initiative, a Government project aimed at mitigating the negative impact of refugees, has appealed to donor agencies to fund capacity building programmes in host communities for refugees. Zambia Initiative National Coordinator Dominic Minyoi said his organisation was faced with financial inadequacies after having exhausted over US $ 380 000 in various projects late last year. The initiative’s operations had been made possible through donor assistance from the American, Swedish, Danish and Japanese Governments as well as the UNHCR. Dr Minyoi said the Zambian Government did not have adequate resources to harmonise the existence of refugees and the local population.He said the donor community needed to come on board and assist refugees, that were not willing to be repatriated, to cope with life through support in education, health, food security and other social amenities such as infrastructure.“The impact of the refugees on the social sector and the environment needs to be mitigated by building capacity to accommodate the extra load and harmonise the existence of refugees and the Zambians,” he said. Dr Minyoi said the Zambia initiative had implemented various rural integration programmes in Western and North Western provinces among them the rehabilitation and extension of schools that cater for the local and refugee population. Other programmes included the training of health workers, the conducting of outreach agricultural projects and the rehabilitation and extension of rural health centres and maternity wards in various chiefdoms. The Zambia Initiative was currently rehabilitating Maheba High School, located about 70 Kilometres from Solwezi in a refugee resettlement area, as well as providing solar electricity and furniture for the classrooms, kitchen and dormitories. The high numbers of refugees still living in Zambia is a clear indication that the voluntary repatriation exercise was far from its conclusive end, despite being in its remnant stages. The international community, that had been supportive for a long time, need not slacken now but avail their resources even more to ensure that the willing Angolans are repatriated back to their country as soon as possible.After all, Zambia’s hospitality mantle requires cushioning to ensure that the meager resources spent on the affairs of refugees are equitably distributed and also channeled to other developmental avenues. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |