The current fight in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has hindered the repatriation of Congolese refugees who live in Zambia, the Post newspaper reported on Monday, citing a senior government official.
According to Home Affair Permanent Secretary Susan Sikaneta, Zambia initially planned to repatriate nearly 20,000 Congolese refugees under the voluntary repatriation program but had only managed to send back 11,000.
"The rest, we have not managed to repatriate them," Sikaneta was quoted as saying, "many of them have refused because of the current situation in that country."
Tens of thousands of Congolese had fled into the neighboring country during the civil war in the country. As the situation became stable in the past two years, many Congolese refugees had returned home.
But the refugee repatriation was forced to be suspended with tension being built up in DR Congo's volatile North Kivu Province. Weeks of combat between rebels and government forces have displaced a quarter of a million civilians.
Source:Xinhua
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