In Brief: UN to airlift tents for expulsees

Photo: MSF

Angolans fled to the DRC during the civil war

JOHANNESBURG, 29 October 2009 (IRIN) - The UN is preparing to airlift tents and emergency response equipment to assist 60,000 Angolans expelled from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the past few months, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in New York on 28 October.

In tit-for-tat expulsions between the two countries more than 18,000 Congolese have been forced to leave Angola, leading to a burgeoning humanitarian crisis on the Angola-DRC border; more than half the displaced people are women and children.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees will airlift tents and deploy an emergency response team to help the expelled Angolans.

Following talks on 13 October in the DRC capital, Kinshasa, both countries agreed to "immediately stop the expulsions of citizens of their respective states", but there are reports that people are still crossing the border in both directions to reach their country of origin, although the rate has slowed.

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