Luanda - The Angolan government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) formalised, this Friday in Luanda, the process of implementing the clause to end the status of refugees from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Rwanda.
The aim is to register 3,626 refugees in the coming months, 918 of them Rwandans, 596 Liberians and 2,112 Sierra Leoneans.
During his speech at the ceremony, the president of the National Council for Refugees (CNR), João Dias, explained that the process will follow two models, local integration and voluntary repatriation, respectively.
He noted that a temporary residence permit would also be granted for the normal integration of refugees who decided to stay in Angola.
He said that three points had been set up in Luanda for the registration of refugees, namely in the urban district of Rangel, near Cidadela Desportiva, in the Special Economic Zone, Viana municipality, and in Cabo-Ledo, Quissama municipality.
In the other provinces, he said, the process will take place at the local offices of the Migration and Foreigners Service (SME).
"The situation of refugees in Angola is being dealt with quickly and objectively, in order to provide the social and dignified integration of these citizens, despite the current challenges imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic," he noted.
Under Law no. 10/15 of 17 June, on the Right to Asylum and the Status of Refugees, new identification documents will soon be issued to refugees and asylum seekers, with a view to their better integration into the country's socio-economic reality.
The Minister of Interior, Eugénio Laborinho, said on the occasion that the act represented not only the Angolan state's commitment to international conventions, but also the interest and seriousness with which the national authorities see the urgency of regularising and giving greater dignity to refugees.
