ANGOLA: Report highlights plight of returnees

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

LUANDA, 17 Mar 2005 (IRIN) - A new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) warns that the vast population of refugees returning to Angola face harassment and sexual assault.

'Coming Home: Return and Reintegration in Angola', alleged that despite almost three years of peace, the government has provided little in the way of basic social services, employment or education to returnees.

"Hundreds of thousands of recently returned refugees, internally displaced persons [IDPs] and former combatants face daunting challenges in reintegrating into Angolan society, with little government assistance," the New York-based watchdog said in a statement.

"Families return to devastated communities and settle on land that is heavily mined. In some parts of the country, Angolan authorities harass, extort and sexually abuse returnees without identity cards," the report alleged.

Since the 27-year civil war ended in April 2002, hundreds of thousands of people have returned to their areas of origin, often facing conditions much worse than in the refugee and IDP camps.

HRW believes the government of the oil-rich southern African country could have done much more to ease their resettlement.

"The Angolan government claims it lacks the resources to help returnees, but the country is experiencing a windfall from high oil prices and the Angolan government has not adequately publicly accounted for those revenues," the rights group pointed out.

Three years ago Angola incorporated international standards for internally displaced persons and refugees into its domestic law, with responsibility for creating adequate conditions of return for all returnees, and assisting former rebel UNITA combatants in the demobilisation and reintegration process.

However, with many facing hunger, unemployment and abuse, these commitments appeared to be "little more than empty promises," HRW said.

The 39-page report also criticised the United Nations for reducing its presence in the country "at this critical moment", lamenting cuts in protection staffing at the UN refugee agency, and funding shortages that have led to lower rations distributed by the World Food Programme.

"Angolans find themselves caught in the 'emergency-to-development gap', as humanitarian assistance dries up before international development aid becomes available," HRW said.

A UN official recognised that there was a gap and admitted to being "very concerned" about the dire situation facing returnees, but denied that the UN was abandoning the country in its hour of need.

"We recognise that there is a gap, and there are some residual humanitarian needs that the UN is taking into consideration, but the role of the UN has shifted, and the UN cannot substitute itself for the government," the official told IRIN.

"It is for the government to focus all its efforts on developing social services; the United Nations will do all it can to assist in that development, but we are no longer in the driving seat," the official noted.

Attempts to get comment from the government were unsuccessful.

For the full report go to: http://hrw.org/

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