ZCZC
BFF-51
DRCONGO-ANGOLA-MIGRANTS
Chaos as 200,000 Congolese expelled from Angola
KAMAKO, RD Congo, Oct 15, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Life fell apart last week for
mother of four Dorcas who was among 200,000 Congolese attacked and then
forcibly thrown out of neighbouring Angola despite having lived there for a
decade.
Speaking in Kamako, a frontier town in southern Democratic Republic of
Congo, the woman in her forties said she and her husband had made their lives
in the Angolan border town of Lupaca until the nightmare began.
“There were rumours circulating that the Angolan authorities would be
expelling foreigners,” from Lunda Norte province which borders on DRC, she
said.
“Suddenly on Monday (last week) we saw youths from the Tchiokwe community
with Angolan policemen starting to burn the homes of those perceived to be
foreigners.
“When they came to our house, they attacked my husband with a machete and
we were forced to flee taking whatever little we could carry,” she said.
“All our children were born in Angola and only speak Portuguese,” she said.
Angola was a former Portuguese colony while DR Congo was ruled by the
Belgians and is a francophone country.
Oil-rich Angola attracts hordes of Congolese as it is relatively more
stable and offers better employment prospects.
DR Congo has an abundance of mineral wealth but large swathes are rocked by
unrest and violence unleashed by rebel groups and militias from within and
neighbouring nations such as Uganda and Rwanda.
The operations last week against migrants triggered clashes between
Congolese, security forces and local Angolans.
Local media and an NGO reported that several migrants have been killed,
though Angolan authorities deny any deaths or forcible repatriations.
Lunda Norte’s governor, Ernesto Muangala, on Saturday said that that “more
than 200,000 Congolese living illegally in Angola have been repatriated on a
voluntary basis.”
Trucks were seen plying incessantly over the weekend taking Congolese
nationals to the border from Dundo, the capital of Lunda Norte.
Several Congolese patiently waited outside the Angolan consulate in Kamako,
brandishing their Angolan residence permits. The doors of the mission were
closed.
“What are we going to do in DRC? We have all lived in Lucapa for 10 or 20
years,” said Daniel Mukenge, a man in his forties. – ‘We are condemned to
death here’ –
“Our papers are all in order. We have invested and built homes,” he said.
“Now the authorities are refusing to recognise the documents that they
themselves delivered. We are now asking our authorities to intervene so that
the Angolan authorities buy our houses otherwise we are condemned to death
here,” he said.
An Angolan official at the consulate meanwhile told the group: “The
solution does not lie here.”
And an Angolan immigration official at the Kamako border outpost feigned
incredulity.
“How can these people refuse to go back to their country? It makes me
laugh,” he said.
The Congolese authorities say they are struggling to cope with the
returnees, with up to 1,000 arrivals every hour.
“At this rate we cannot register them,” said Mahieu Boma, a local official
from the national commission of refugees.
In Kamako, the new arrivals take shelter wherever they can — under mango
trees, in schools and churches.
Sunday mass in many churches began late as a result of the influx.
“For the present, there are 750 families of between three and four people
each who are sheltering in our facilities,” said Father Crispin Mfamba from
the local Saint Gabriel parish.
Dorcas meanwhile has lost track of one of her four children during the
move.
“We are here in Kamako without money,” she said. “We are selling what
little we have so that we can eat.
“My four-year-old child has disappeared and I sold my dress for $1.20 to
pay for a radio announcement to help find my child,” she said.
BSS/AFP/MRI/1814 HRS