TNAG-1066-FCO40-1316-Human-rights-in-Hong-Kong-1981 — Page 25

jees, ental the rica, iting

vern- Front 1 the eople : the

ase-

>ines

76. The Malaysian authorities made a request to the United Nations High Commissioner in June 1977 to assist needy refugees from the Philippines, whose number they considered to be 40 000. UNHCR introduced an emergency assistance programme to provide for the improvement of housing, water supply, communal services and fishing facilities. This programme was consoli- dated in the following year, and by 1979 half of the refugee famiies were occupied in fishing and other productive activi- ties. For the remainder, it was agreed that UNHCR would assist in promoting rural settlement, where possible. Implementation was delayed until a follow-up study to the original feasibility study could be carried out to establish the technical modalities of the project. Meanwhile, measures initiated earlier to consolidate the settlement of the Filipino refugees, including the provision of educational facilities and feeder roads, continued to be implemented.

S

to

long much

lism.

mber

onal

per ural

and the land ther and stor

I to

> be

are nber s in ies).

are the

1ao,

for put

as-

1977

ZAIRE (THE REPUBLIC OF)

77. In March 1977 and May 1978, successive invasions of the mineral-rich province of Shaba (formerly

(formerly Katanga)

Katanga) by the Congolese National Liberation Front (FNLC) from its bases in Angola, repulsed on both occasions by the Zairian Armed Forces with the help of foreign reinforcements, were succeeded by army "pacification campaigns" which claimed many lives and precipi- tated a mass exodus into Angola. The FNLC, formed in Angola in 1963 after the Katangan secession attempt of Moise Tshombe had failed, struck at a time of gathering social tensions in Zaire arising from the ever-widening gap between the privileged and the impoverished. With real wages by 1976 reportedly only a quarter of their 1960 value, much of the population of some 27 million was living at below subsistence level (with a GNP stated by the World Bank to be only $ 260 - amongst the lowest in the world). Nevertheless, the surprise nature of the attacks, fear of the unknown after the troubled years of the 1960s and an equally great fear of the national army explain why the FNLC invasions did not trigger off popular uprisings in Shaba or elsewhere.

The measures taken by the military to "pacify" the region seemed therefore hardly justified, and understandably sowed panic amongst the population.

78.

By May 1977, 220 000 people were reported to have fled to Angola and a year later they totalled over 320 000.

79.

The refugees were destitute and urgently in need of relief assistance. Their arrival came within only two to three years of independence in Angola, while a programme of humanitarian assistance to an estimated internally displaced population of one million was still being implemented.