ì
}
wwww
156. A number of the newly arrived refugees were transferred to the Meheba rural ttlement now the only UNHCR-assisted settlement in Zambia whose population had increased to over 12,700 by the end of the year. Some 470 Zairians repatriated voluntarily from the settlement in 1977. UNHCR's assistance to the settlement, which accommodates mainly Angolan refugees and is administered under a tripartite agreement with the Government and the Lutheran World Federation/Zambian Christian Refugee Service, was directed towards expanding facilities to accommodate the new arrivals and to promoting the self-sufficiency of the population with a view to the eventual transfer of the settlement to the Government. Such measures included the provision of agricultural equipment and fertilizers, improvement of communal amenities, such as water supply and road network, and assistance with respect to health and education. A number of self-sufficiency projects were implemented, such as the establishment of poultry farms, fish ponds and carpentry workshops, while bakery, sewing and milling co-operatives as well as home-craft courses were organized for women. Crops of maize, cassava, beans, sweet potatoes, ground-nuts, vegetables and tobacco were grown for local consumption and as a means of revenue. The distribution of food rations from WFP supplies was limited to new arrivals. The construction of 79 houses for handicapped refugees was completed in 1977. With the increase of population, the accommodation offered by the settlement's two primary schools proved insufficient for both pupils and teaching staff, and plans have been made to provide additional classes.
157. Increased measures of assistance were also required for the caseload of individual refugees in urban centres, for whom employment prospects are extremely limited, and who were in urgent need of care and maintenance assistance to meet immediate needs. Individual refugees received advice and guidance from the counselling service established in 1976 under an agreement between the Christian Council of Zambia/All Africa Conference of Churches, the International University Exchange Fund and UNHCR. In addition, plans were made by the Government, in consultation with UNHCR, to renovate and re-open a former reception centre at Makeni, on the outskirts of Lusaka, to accommodate new asylum-seekers, unemployed and destitute refugees and those in transit.
many of them
158. The influx of refugees from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia students necessitated the establishment of new projects in the fields of education, temporary care and maintenance and medical care, for implementation by the liberation movements concerned. Some 6,000 Zimbabwean refugees are young children, assisted by Patriotic Front/ZAPU, for whom urgent relief measures were required. In July 1977 an allocation was made from the Emergency Fund to cover an airlift of clothing, blankets and food, as well as procurement of a mobile clinic and purchase of beds and mattresses. Relief aid was also provided to some 500 Zimbabwean refugees assisted by Patriotic Front/ZANU. Another project covered the construction of an extension of the ZAPU emergency school near Lusaka designed to accommodate 3,000 pupils and to provide primary education and rehabilitation facilities.
159. Some 200 South African refugees received subsistence allowances, medical care, payment of school fees and travel fares.
160. UNHCR's expenditures under its General Programmes of assistance in Zambia in 1977 totalled $1,024,000, including $500,000 for the ZAPU emergency school and some $228,000 for local settlement assistance, supplemented by generous assistance from the Zambian Government. It also included an amount of some $196,000 from
-31-
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.