[Courtesy UNHCR]
Government authorities confirmed the number of Congolese asylum-seekers crossed the border between Wednesday 30 August and 6 September 2017, through Chiengi’s Kamponge and surrounding border entry points in the district located in the north of Zambia.
The new arrivals are driven by clashes between Congolese and different militias around the towns of Pweto and Moba.
The group consists of both sexes – mainly children and adults with luggage, who have been provided basic life-saving humanitarian assistance like food, water, and clothes by UNHCR.
The agency requires urgent funding to assist the Zambian government, and has reached out to various partners and donors for assistance to help with the logistics of relocation, putting up basic facilities and opening a new holding centre in Chiengi.
By 31 July 2017, the total population of Congolese in Zambia (asylum-seekers and refugees) was 25,467.
The country currently hosts some 59,195 refugees, mostly from Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia and Uganda.
