16 May 2006: ISS Today: Angola: Repatriation Plan from South Africa

16 MAY 2006: ANGOLA: REPATRIATION PLAN FROM SOUTH AFRICA
UNHCR BRIEFING NOTES

 

The voluntary repatriation programme from South Africa to Angola is expected to begin in August of this year. Some 4,000 Angolan refugees in South Africa are expected to return home over an 18-month period. In all, there are some 13, 000 Angolan refugees in South Africa, but many have integrated into local society.

 

Commentary

 

The cease-fire brokered between the MPLA and UNITA in April 2002 enabled a shift in emphasis from creating peace, to post-conflict reconstruction. A major part of this reconstruction is the repatriation of refugees and internally displaced persons. Since 2003 the UNHCR has been involved in assisting with the voluntary return of Angolans from Zambia, DRC, and South Africa. Of the estimated 460 000 refugees, the majority, approximately 360 000, have returned. The UNHCR, which is tasked to ensure the return of refugees in  “safety  and dignity,”  will be ending its repatriation assistance in October this year. The assistance is in the form of a resettlement grant of $100 per adult and $50 per child. 

 

At the launch of the information campaign on the repatriation process, the Director–General of Home Affairs for South Africa thanked the Angolans for their contribution to the South African economy during their exile but urged them to return and make a contribution to the growth and development of their country.  However, many Angolans in South Africa indicate that they have integrated into the society and that the educational and health facilities in South Africa afford better prospects.

 

Although the Angolan government has made a substantial shift in its budgets: from spending 25.5% of the national budget on Defence and Public order  in 1999 and only 1.5% and 1.2%, respectively, for Education and Health during that period to 2.9 %for Defence in 2003 and 3.1% and 2.4 % for Education and Health during that year, large deficiencies in the social sector remain. There is more than 50% unemployment and 70% of the population live below the poverty line.  The country was ranked 160th of 177 countries in the 2005 UNDP HDI, which also noted that the educational and health indicators were some of the worst on the continent.

 

With these prevailing conditions, it is understandable that the majority of Angolan refugees in South Africa are not queuing to take up the UNHCR repatriation package. All refugees, in accordance with the UN and African Union Refugee Acts maintain the right to choice of repatriation or continued stay in their country of asylum, i.e. the stress is on voluntary repatriation.  Angola has been at war for more than two decades. It is reasonable to assume that many Angolans would have integrated into their countries of domicile. We will assume that their choice to go home or stay bears little reflection on their commitment to rebuilding either their own country or the African continent and that this type of moral pressure should not be placed on them.

 

Cheryl Hendricks and Lauren Hutton