The initial emergency response in Zambia provoked by the influx of some 25,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo since March 1999 has evolved into a care and maintenance programme. Of the 25,000 refugees, some 11,000 are assisted in the Mwange settlement. The rest of the population has spontaneously settled in the border area. With regard to the population of 150,000 Angolan refugees, UNHCR actively promotes the options of local integration and naturalisation for interested refugees (UNHCR-09/99).
Angolan refugees have continued to enter Zambia over the reporting period. The recent influx is largely due to fighting between UNITA and Angolan government forces in Moxico Province that borders Zambia’s Western and North Western Provinces (IRIN-SA - 27/10/99).
The RNIS has received no new information concerning the nutritional situation of the refugees in Zambia. It is assumed that their nutritional status remains non-critical (category IV).
