Ondjiva - The Angolan government is to close the Calueque Reception Centre, in the municipality of Ombadja, southern Cunene Province, which shelters 2050 former Angolan refugees in Namibia, revealed on Monday Francisco Furtado, Minister of State and Head of the President's Military Affairs Office during a meeting with interested parties.
In existence since 2022, the centre shelters former Angolan refugees in neighbouring Namibia, who will now be sent back to their areas of origin.
These are nationals who have taken refuge in Namibia due to the cyclical drought and who, over the last two years, have been assisted with basic needs, medical care, education and birth registration.
Francisco Furtado said that after the period of permanent assistance to the victims, they need to return to their homes so that they can produce their own food to support themselves, adding that the government will be responsible for guaranteeing their subsistence, but that it is not to keep them solely dependent on government support.
To this end, he informed that some basic necessities are being prepared to provide food for the victims, for the next 15 days, who will be staying in the centre while the transport process takes place.
"The conditions for the return of these families are guaranteed, especially food supplies and the missing elements, such as zinc sheets, in order to facilitate the resettlement process in their areas of origin", he stated.
He also stressed that with their return, the families will benefit from tools, inputs, seeds and fertilisers, so that they can carry out their agricultural activities during the rainy season and guarantee their own livelihoods.
To him, keeping these families at the centre would mean maintaining permanent assistance to this population.
He recalled that a production field was set up at the reception centre, where the Ministry of Agriculture provided all the technical assistance and instructions to the people, but it only worked for the first year.
The government official said that the transport process involves the Ministry of Social Action and the Cunene Provincial Government, which must monitor and guarantee the families' livelihoods.
He recalled that during the critical period of the drought, more than 8,000 Angolans took refuge in Namibia. The first group returned in the first year while others returned through their own means.
The centre is currently home to 736 families from the municipalities of Curoca, Cahama and Ombadja (Cunene), Gambos, Chibia and Lubango (Huíla) and Virei (Namibe), who have benefited from more than 1,874.09 tonnes of food and 826 units of non-food goods.
The minister of Social Action, Family and Women's Promotion, Ana Paula do Sacramento Neto, the provincial governor of Cunene, Gerdina Didalelwa, the Secretary of State for the Interior, as well as for Agriculture and Social Action, and senior officials from the Presidency of the Republic and the Military House, were part of the minister's delegation.
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