Angolans get ultimatum to leave Osire

All Angolan refugees living at the Osire refugee camp must move from the camp from March this year, says the Commissioner of Refugees in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration, Nkrumah Mushelenga. He made the statement while speaking at the refugee camp situated near Otjiwarongo in the Otjozondjupa Region on Friday, saying all former Angolan refugees should understand that their “jacket of refugee status” was removed on June 30 2013. Mushelenga was at Osire to address former refugees along with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) country representative Lawrence Mgbangson in light of the fact that the UNHCR is busy phasing out its activities in Namibia. “I, in my capacity as the Commissioner for Refugees in this country, am here today along with the UNHCR country representative to remind you that as from March 2014, all of you must move out of Osire to the places of your choice. Osire settlement in terms of the refugee laws is for refugee settlement, and not for ordinary Namibians or non-Namibians,” he said. Nampa reported last year that Namibia is still home to over 2 000 Angolan refugees who are reluctant to return to their country, despite a voluntary repatriation process organised by the United Nations (UN). Mushelenga on Friday explained that the Namibian government has agreed to locally integrate 2 400 former Angolan refugees. He said the governments of Namibia and Angola, as well as the UNHCR had a meeting in October last year to look into the possibility of speeding up the local integration process of 1 742 profiled former Angolan refugees. Profiled refugees are those individuals who have already applied for permanent residence status, Mushelenga noted. “The deadline to finalise the local integration process is February 28 2014,” he said. An Angolan technical delegation was expected to arrive in Namibia yesterday to start issuing national documents to profiled former Angolan refugees for local integration purposes. Mushelenga said it is vital for the Namibian and Angolan governments to have an accurate database of former Angolan refugees living in Namibia, as well as those refugees who are self-settled along the common border the two countries share. “We urge all affected community members, both profiled and non-profiled, to uphold this important exercise where you are all going to be issued with Angolan national documents,” he said, adding that the dates and venues where this will be done will be communicated to the former refugees. He further said all former refugees who are married to people of other nationalities residing at the Osire refugee camp will have to decide whether they want to be locally integrated along with their spouse. These individuals have up to January 24 2014 to decide which status they prefer - refugee status or local integration. They are expected to forward their decision to the office of the acting settlement administrator before 24 January.