« Mbandaka, 2 July 2014. » Central African refugees at Camp Molet, about thirty kilometers away from the DRC city of Zongo, north-west of Equateur province started returning to Bangui, amid persisting insecurity in the central African Capital. This was noticed by the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday 2 July 2014 at DRC’s Immigration Department (DGM) and the civil society in Zongo. Central African Government made available to the refugees a whaleboat with 200 seats and four rotations have already been made between Bangui and the Port of Zongo; several hundreds central African nationals have returned home and therefore lost their refugee status.

On Wednesday 25 June 2014, the refugees deliberately chose to leave the Camp Molet where they have been living since March 2013, after the fall of the former Central African President François Bozize and ensuing insecurity across the country. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there are more than 12,000 who need accommodation and more than 50,000 across the different sites in Equateur. Tension is running higher in the Camps, mainly in Molet where there is a broad student community and Muslim refugees are not accepted! The refugees are blaming, inter alia, the Refugees National Commission (CNR) for “permanent threats” weighing on them, for not abiding by their rights and dignity… They also blame UN Agencies (HCR and WFP) for lower quantities and bad quality of foods. They further complain of the poor monthly allocation received from the World Food Programme (WFP), say 15,000 Congolese francs, about $ 6.

Last week, led by Emmanuel, they decided to leave Camp de Molet “to return home in Central Africa”… Discussions between Bangui and Congolese officials could lead to the evacuation of those who did not wish to remain in the DRC any more due to bad living conditions. The mayor of the City of Zongo, Michel Siazo Yeke Yeke, told MONUSCO last week that the situation remained calm both at Camp Molet and Zongo.

Jean-Tobie Okala.