E/CN.4/1503
Annex I page 26
80.
UNHCR supported a relief operation involving the transpor- tation of
of urgently-needed commodities across the country in close collaboration with the central and provincial authorities. Vehicles, food and other relief supplies from the United Nations Programme
Programme of Humanitarian
of Humanitarian Assistance to Angola were loaned to the operation. In early 1978, a mission consisting of experts from the Government, UNHCR, FAO and WHO visited the sites where the Zairian refugees were being settled. The mission found that adequate land and water were available to support agricultural settlement, and measures to assist the refugees to integrate were decided upon while bearing in mind, however,
that voluntary repatriation might prove feasible
before too long.
81. On 24 June 1978 the Government of Zaire declared an amnesty and invited the repatriation of all Zairians who had found refuge abroad. The Government approached the UN Secretary-General for assistance, who in turn requested the High Commissioner for Refugees to carry out the
the repatriation programme. An appeal for funds resulting in contributions totalling over $ 12.7 million enabled a large-scale repatri- ation operation to be mounted. Some 150 000 Zairians returned home under this programme, and by the end of the year the number of Zairian refugees in Angola was below 20 000, for whom rural integration
integration assistance would be available from the international community
community until they were self-supporting.
1978 BURMA (THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF THE UNION OF)
82. Alleged ill-treatment by the authorities of the Muslim minority in the State of Arakan, western Burma, caused an exodus into Bangladesh in early 1978. The refugees, mainly Rohingya people who had migrated generations earlier from East Bengal and had since intermarried with Burmese and regularized their status with Nationality Registration Certificates, considered themselves Burmese. They attested to having
been expelled from their homes and ill treated by the military, not without some shedding of blood. They testified also to the apparent intention on the part of the military to expel the group from the country. Although military rule in Burma had ended formally in March 1974, many signs
1974, many signs of popular unrest, including anti-government riots, multi-ethnic insurgencies and defections and dissent within the party leadership had led to a tightening-up process in February 1978 when a special congress held to elect a new Central Committee dropped 113 members elected only the previous year in favour of active or recently- retired army officers thus practically eliminating civilian participation in the government at top party levels.
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