UNHCR representative in the country, Emmanuelle Mitte, stated that the UN agency’s withdrawal should take place as of the last quarter of this year, which is due to the shortage of funds, caused by the decrease in donations and funding, Jornal de Angola reported.

Mitte explained that the global situation of financial limitations significantly affects UNHCR’s actions to assist refugees and its full operation, but assured that the closure of its offices will not affect the support to the Angolan Government in assisting more than 56,000 refugees in the country.

UNHCR is active in Angolan territory, mainly in the provinces of Luanda and Lunda-Norte, where more than 6,000 Congolese, displaced by violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2017 and settled in Lovua, remain in the latter.

The representative on Angolan territory specified that the embassies of the United Kingdom, France, and China visited that locality to evaluate the refugees’ current situation and subsequently define funds for their assistance. jrr/iff/lam/kmg