Since the massive return of Congolese nationals from the Republic of Angola in October 2018, the humanitarian situation in the border areas that host them has worsened, particularly in the city of Luambo through the Kalambambuji cross-border gate. Indeed, these areas located in the provinces of Kasai Central, still bear the brunt of the escalation of armed violence in the Kasai region in 2016/2017, they are areas of return of internally displaced persons or still host these displaced persons. In order to contribute to a dignified reception of these expelled/returned persons and to support them in their reintegration/resettlement, the humanitarian community has mobilized and proposes this response strategy for the so-called first emergency and post-emergency phase.
The city of Luambo in the territory of Luiza welcomes young girls and boys who have been turned away fleeing the situation of insecurity and the violence they are victims of by the Angolan community and others have fled the DRC following the insecurity linked to political instability in Kasai towards Angola during the 2016 crisis in search of a better life and security. These young adolescents whose age group varies between 15-24 years are victims of several evils including idleness in the city of Luambo, forced begging, early and forced marriage, sexual vagrancy and are exposed to several risks of being used as militia or exposed to sexually transmitted infections linked to HIV / AIDS.
Rejected from Angola.
To meet the needs of these young adolescents, some humanitarian organizations including United Nations agencies such as the NGO SAPI take care of their protection, provide advice, multi-sectoral support through direct interventions and the care of unaccompanied children.
Several interventions are already underway in the regions in the area of food security and WASH, but the socio-economic and educational reintegration of young people remains a challenge to be met in the cities of Luambo and Kamako.
This is why the Humanitarian NGO Save the People International is sounding the alarm to support the post-emergency program in the city of Kamako and Luambo to support the post-crisis recovery program by supporting rapid job and income creation activities for 1,700 young people and adolescents expelled from Angola who are living in extremely difficult conditions. These young people should benefit from support/supervision in trades, literacy-remedial education as well as education activities for responsible citizenship.
Donors should focus their full attention on the problem of socio-economic reintegration in post-conflict zones in order to prevent 90% of young people expelled from Angola from joining the militia by voluntarily enlisting in search of a life. Currently, these young people receive support in terms of cash from certain humanitarian organizations, which does not guarantee the life of these young people and does not constitute a sustainable solution. Due to a lack of material and financial support and insufficient training and supervision, their initiatives do not produce the expected results and do not last. These young people expelled from Angola want to benefit from learning trades, rapid job creation and income among other things (supervision in fattening, sale of animal feed, mechanics and electronics (repair of cars, motorcycles, tricycles, telephones), public telephone, hairdressing, motorcycle driving (with driving license), delivery of bicycles for transport ( BAYANDA ), saponification, crafts, dyeing.
Save the People International – SAPI is a humanitarian children’s aid organization that advocates for and builds a better future for children and adolescents.
Sylvain filos Ivan
President & International Relations Officer
