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Angola: Inter-Agency Operational Update (17 July 2018)

Attachments

There is a shortage of classrooms to accommodate both refugee and host community students. More trained teachers, sanitation facilities, equipment, and materials are urgently needed.

Only 39 per cent of required maize meal and 28 per cent of the usual amount of pulses will be distributed in August due to funding shortage.

Lack of funding is hampering the transition from emergency shelter to a more permanent housing solution in Lóvua settlement.

Operational Context

The outbreak of violence in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in March 2017 triggered the internal displacement of some 1.4 million persons and the flight of over 35,000 refugees into Lunda Norte Province, Angola.

The Government of Angola (GoA) has an open door policy to welcome Congolese nationals fleeing as a result of the conflict. However new arrivals have significantly decreased since July 2017.
As the situation remains volatile in the Kasai region with rising numbers of internally displaced people, humanitarian agencies in Angola maintain the 2017 response planning figure of 50,000 refugees until end of December 2018. UNHCR is not currently promoting voluntary repatriation of Congolese refugees from Lunda Norte Province to their country of origin.

The interagency humanitarian response for the Congolese refugees launched a new appeal for funding to cover the areas of protection, emergency shelter, livelihoods, food security and nutrition, non-food items, water, sanitation, hygiene, health including mental health, and education until the end of 2018. Currently, 13,669 Congolese refugees (3,353 families) are residing in Lóvua settlement.

Highlights

  • World Refugee Day: There were celebrations in the Lóvua refugee settlement on World Refugee Day, which included a football match between refugees and humanitarian workers as well as a display of traditional dances. In Luanda, a refugee photo exhibition of pictures of refugees in Lóvua and in Luanda was inaugurated in an event gathering refugees, the diplomatic community and members of the Government of Angola

  • External Relations: A meeting was held between the Provincial Governor of Lunda Norte and the UNHCR Head of Field Office in Dundo. The aim of this meeting was to update local authorities on the plans for the upcoming donor mission to the province, discuss the current situation in the DRC, update the Governor on preparedness for an eventual emergency, and on the relocation of refugees in the urban community to Lóvua Settlement.