Dundo — The fifth group of Congolese refugees who have expressed a desire to return to their country of origin were repatriated Thursday to the DR Congo, through the border post of Chissanda, in the Municipality of Chitato, north-eastern Province of Lunda Norte (Angola).

The first four groups, made up of 518 refugees, were repatriated to Kassai Central, Lomami, Sankuru, Lualaba and Kinshasa provinces in DRC, through the border posts of Chissanda and Tchicolondo.

The return of this new group is part of the organized voluntary repatriation programme, which resumed on the 19th of

July of the current year, after its suspension in 2020, due to Covid-19.

Currently, the Lóvua settlement controls 6,330 refugees. In May 2017, an initial group of 35,000 DRC citizens arrived at the Province of Lunda Norte, fleeing acts of violence in the Kassai area, a crisis that led to the declaration of an emergency situation.

In 2019, due to the improvement in the situation in the DRC, more than 17,000 of these refugees returned to their country of origin spontaneously.

That same year, after an agreement between the governments of Angola, the DRC and the UNHCR, a voluntary return was organized, which led to the return of 2,912 refugees.

However, in February 2020, the operation was interrupted, first due to the poor condition of the roads and the bridge over the Kasai River and later due to Covid-19, which led to the closure of borders between the two countries.

Repatriation is being organized by UNHCR together with governments of Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with the collaboration of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and partners.