The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Lusaka says they will repatriate some 40,000 Angolan refugees next year and another 30,000 in 2004.

Zambia hosts a total of 218,000 Angolan refugees in settlements and camps mainly in northwestern Zambia on the border with Angola.

"Our projections indicate that we shall be able to begin the repatriation at the end of the rainy season in April next year," said UNHCR Zambia public information assistant, Kelvin Shimo.

The repatriation of Zambian-based Angolan refugees is a part of the consolidated southern African regional programme in which the UN refugee agency intends to execute the return of Angolans from Zambia, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The UNHCR did not say how much the budget was for the consolidated regional programme.

These are organised voluntary repatriations, Shimo said. At Meheba Settlement, Zambia's largest refugee facility, 750 km north-west of the capital Lusaka, there are some Angolans who settled there as early as 1968. In this group many prefer to remain in Zambia for life.

According to the UNHCR, 35,000 refugees reside at Meheba; 24,000 at Nangweshi camp, 700 km west of Lusaka, and another 20,000 at Mayukwayukwa Settlement in Kaoma, 320 km west of Lusaka.

"Those from the former UNITA areas are hesitant," he said. But those that came in 1998 and 1999 are ready to go when we are ready," said Shimo.

The Zambian government has begun to work on plans to revise the Refugee Act to provide for the full integration of refugees into the Zambian society.

"We are encouraged that the Zambian government has told us they intend to revise the refugee law to provide for this scenario," he said.

Under a unique programme called the "Zambian Initiative" the government has accepted to absorb all refugees who will opt to stay on when the repatriation drive begins next year.

Shimo said the United States government has approved US$1 million for the initiative and that other western donors have pledged to support the project.

The initiative will involve building schools, clinics, and water and sanitation infrastructure.

UNHCR estimates that up to 30,000 long-term Angolan refugees will opt to be integrated into the Zambian society.

Many are keen to reunite with their families back home from whom they have been separated by a whole generation of warfare. But for others, Zambia has become their home, so they are reluctant to go.

Zambian Home Affairs deputy minister Kennedy Sakeni said the government recognises the fact that there are some Angolan refugees who have decided to make Zambia their home.

Sakeni said Angolans who had lived in Zambia for over 15 years but were not born there will be allowed to apply for Zambian citizenship.

"Those that came during the war and have lived here for 15 years or more will be allowed to apply through the citizenship board like anybody," he said.

He said Zambia would not force refugees to return home because of the humanitarian crisis in Angola despite the end of the war.

"We will not force the refugees to leave because the situation is still bad. There are no schools, no hospitals in most places and we are sympathetic with the Angolan government," he said.

An estimated 10,000 refugees have returned to Angola spontaneously following the end of the war in February this year, said Michael Salomons, senior UNHCR Zambia refugee protection officer.

In the Zambian refugee camps and settlements, the UN refugee agency has begun landmines awareness programmes targeted at Angolans because some will be repatriated to areas that could have landmines.

The awareness is a collaborative effort by the UNHCR and UNICEF and will involve NGOs working with refugees.

"Landmines are a major source of danger even when a country has been restored to peace and stability. The anti-personnel landmines kill and maim indiscriminately. It is important that refugees are made aware of the dangers they face as they go back home," he said.

The Angolan peace process that was revived on 4 April 2002, after a change of heart in the UNITA camp following the killing of Savimbi, has ignited unprecedented hope in the regional and international community. SADC leaders who met at the group's 22nd Summit in Luanda on 3 October, upheld the revival of the peace process as the most important development in the region in recent times.

Both government and UNITA are determined to make Angola a bastion of peace and stability in the region.

President Dos Santos in his address to the SADC Summit said the advent of peace in Angola was the most important milestone in southern Africa in the last one year.

"Going beyond the domestic level, it also brings excellent prospects of strengthening, deepening, and consolidating multilateral cooperation among all SADC member states," President Dos Santos said.

He added: " We must combine our efforts to ensure that peace becomes a common value shared throughout the SADC area, so as to begin a new cycle of progress, security and well-being within its blossom for all the peoples that comprise it," he said.

Opposition UNITA leader Paulo "Gato" Lukamba says his party is determined more than ever before, to uphold the 1994 Lusaka Peace Protocol because it was the most viable instrument for peace and stability, not just in Angola, but in the region as well.

Lukamba, the UNITA chief who succeeded Savimbi, said the former rebel group "respects all the provisions of the Lusaka peace accord."

"UNITA will cooperate with the government to achieve the objective of peace and reconciliation. On 4 April 2002, we signed a memorandum of understanding and we hope that spirit will guide the implementation of the Lusaka Protocol," said Lukamba, popularly known as Gato.

But the veteran leader who stood by Savimbi for 27 years in guerrilla warfare, stressed that Angolan peace, reconciliation, and stability depended on the successful demobilization of the remaining 80,000 ex-combatants still in the bush.

"UNITA has been demilitarized and now government has to do its part. It is not enough to thank the ex-combatants for laying down arms. We have to give them 'new arms' -- new skills to enable them meet the new challenges of a new life," said Lukamba.

"How we deal with demobilization will determine the future and stability of Angola," he said.

The UNHCR is equally encouraged by the dawn of peace in Angola. They see it as a major boost for stability in the SADC region.

"We are hopeful and supportive of the peace process in Angola, and we are urging a quick tie-up of all legal, political and military issues there," said Shimo.

Shimo says the Angolan government is saddled with two immediate and critical questions, one of them, the return of refugees, and the other, the issue of internally displaced persons.

"But there has to be quick action by government to deal with the demobilization and integration of ex-UNITA combatants as soon as possible," he said.

Some 5,000 UNITA ex-fighters have been re-intergrated into the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) and others are expected to be trained for civil jobs. Others still have to be assisted in different forms of resettlement, so will be the returnees from Zambia, Namibia, and the DRC.

UNHCR representative in Zambia, Ahmed Gubartalla says the Angolan peace process is a "bright ray of hope" for the region despite the existence of many challenges on the way.

"Recent developments in Angola have presented a window of opportunity for sustained peace and prospects of repatriation of Angolan refugees," he said.

"We believe the political developments in Angola herald a new beginning for the region and the continent." The UNHCR, he said, have an interest to ensure that the "returns take place in an organized manner, are voluntary, and in conditions that are conducive to return."

The repatriation exercise is a regional programme that involves three SADC nations that hold a sizable number of Angolan refugees. The UNHCR convened a meeting in Pretoria in June this to harmonise the Angolan refugees repatriations from Zambia, Namibia and the DRC.

"As soon as the parties sign the tripartite agreement, the UNHCR can begin to organise the voluntary repatriation of Angolan nationals to their country," said Gubartalla. (SARDC -- SADC Today)