Sub-Regional Operations Profile - Southern Africa

Working environment

The consolidation of peace, coupled with steady progress in achieving durable solutions - notably voluntary repatriation - has dramatically reduced the number of refugees in Southern Africa over the past decade. In 2009, UNHCR will continue its search for comprehensive solutions for refugees, including local integration. It will also strengthen national protection capacities and meet the challenges posed by mixed migratory flows.

However, developments in Zimbabwe and their humanitarian impact on neighbouring countries are likely to remain an exception to the broader picture of growing peace and stability in Southern Africa. Zimbabweans have been leaving their country in large numbers for many months, driven by increasingly dire economic, social and humanitarian conditions. Political turmoil and human rights violations have forced many of them to seek protection as refugees in neighbouring countries.

UNHCR has contingency plans and emergency preparedness arrangements in place to face refugee flows from Zimbabwe to the surrounding states. The Office and its partners have also worked together to meet the humanitarian needs of Zimbabweans already in South Africa. While prepared to cope with possible refugee flows from Zimbabwe, UNHCR will also be ready for more positive developments that would allow Zimbabweans to return to their country and contribute to its recovery.

In 2009, South Africa will continue to grapple with the impact of the attacks on foreigners that erupted in Johannesburg in May 2008 and quickly spread to other parts of the country. These events claimed the lives of 62 people and displaced some 46,000 foreigners, including refugees and asylum-seekers, across the country. Working closely with the Government, UN agencies, NGOs and other partners, UNHCR protected and assisted those affected, and provided technical expertise in site management and registration. The number of displaced living in temporary sites has been reduced, but addressing the underlying causes of the violence will require UNHCR's continuing engagement.

Strategy

UNHCR will pursue comprehensive solutions in Southern Africa that combine voluntary repatriation, local integration and resettlement in a mutually reinforcing manner. A key challenge will be to make resettlement available to refugees who need this solution, without undermining refugee interest in local integration or slowing the momentum of returns. UNHCR's assistance programmes will increasingly be oriented toward self-reliance, which will help refugees to take advantage of emerging opportunities for local integration in some countries.

Furthermore, in 2009 UNHCR will continue to promote repatriation to Burundi and facilitate returns to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Although UNHCR's operation to repatriate Angolan refugees was concluded in 2007, it may be called upon once again to facilitate returns from the DRC, Republic of the Congo and Zambia. This would respond to the wishes of Angolan refugees and may help to create opportunities for the local integration of others, particularly in Zambia. Achieving progress on solutions will be important as the Angolan refugee story is entering its final chapter and the cessation of refugee status for those remaining is under consideration.

UNHCR will continue to help build national protection capacities, with a particular focus on the development of refugee status determination (RSD) and registration systems. It will work directly with governments to develop the national legal and institutional frameworks needed to ensure effective protection. The Office will also engage with national NGOs, civil society, academic institutions and human rights organizations to combat the rise in violence and make the public aware of the plight of refugees and their need for protection. Developing new partnerships and creative approaches to respond to mixed migration will complement these efforts.

Within the framework of its regionalization strategy for Africa, UNHCR has strengthened the management and coordination capacity of the Regional Office in Pretoria to enable it to better guide and support operations in the subregion. The Pretoria office's team of regional technical specialists has been strengthened to provide support in key areas such as community services, resettlement, registration, health, and HIV and AIDS. Central to the team's strategy is the mainstreaming of age, gender and diversity considerations into programme planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Constraints

Mixed flows of migrants and asylum-seekers are placing national asylum institutions under strain and contributing to false perceptions about refugees in need of protection. Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, among other countries in Southern Africa, see significant transit movements from the Horn of Africa. Individuals from the Horn register for asylum and benefit from assistance but move on, presumably toward South Africa, before the adjudication of their claims. This phenomenon weakens support for the institution of asylum and the national protection framework among government officials. It also leads to rising tensions in host communities, notably in South Africa, that undermine protection and are an obstacle to the local integration of refugees.

Operations

UNHCR's programmes in South Africa and Zambia are presented in separate country chapters. Operations in Southern Africa cover 14 countries.

Angola hosts some 12,600 refugees, the majority of whom are Congolese who fled the conflict in Katanga province in the 1970s. In 2009, UNHCR will discuss with Angolan authorities possible options for local integration for these long-staying refugees. At the same time, UNHCR will work with the Angolan Government and the Governments of the DRC, Republic of the Congo and Zambia to facilitate the voluntary repatriation and reintegration of Angolan refugees who wish to return home.

As one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, Angola attracts growing numbers of migrants and asylum-seekers. With some 4,000 refugees and asylum-seekers from 22 different countries currently in the country, UNHCR's priority in 2009 will be to strengthen the capacity of national asylum institutions. It will also advocate for the adoption of new legislation and the revision of the 1990 asylum law.

In northern Botswana, Dukwi Refugee Settlement hosts some 2,500 refugees, principally of Angolan, Namibian, Somali and Zimbabwean origin. About 250 refugees live outside the settlement and are mostly self-sufficient. In 2009, UNHCR will encourage the Government of Botswana to permit the local integration of the Angolan refugees remaining in the country. UNHCR's other objectives include helping Botswana to update its national refugee legislation, implementing RSD training programmes for the Refugee Advisory Committee and handing over responsibility for refugee registration to the Government.

Malawi hosts some 9,700 refugees and asylum-seekers, mainly from the Great Lakes region. Most reside in Dzaleka camp and have few opportunities for self-reliance. Malawian law does not provide for the local integration of refugees. Plans for Malawi's Ministry of Home Affairs to assume responsibility for RSD are on track, although UNHCR anticipates that it will need to continue training and capacity-building support in 2009.

According to government statistics, Mozambique hosts some 3,130 refugees and 4,100 asylum-seekers, with the largest numbers coming from Burundi, the Republic of the Congo, DRC, Rwanda and Somalia. Some 69 percent live in Maratane Camp, while the rest reside in urban areas. Zimbabweans entered Mozambique in increasing numbers following the March 2008 national elections and related unrest in their country, with some applying for asylum.

UNHCR has worked closely with the Government of Mozambique to develop a self-reliance strategy for refugees that will reduce their dependence on aid and help them integrate locally. The Office is also helping the Government to boost its capacity to deliver protection, assistance, RSD and other services to refugees and asylum-seekers.

Namibia hosts some 8,000 refugees, the majority from Angola. This number includes some 6,600 living in Osire camp and an additional 1,400 residing elsewhere. Since 2006, UNHCR has discussed with the Government options to allow these refugees to integrate locally. Progress has been slow, but local integration remains the most viable durable solution for these long-staying refugees. UNHCR will continue to help strengthen the Government's capacity for registration, RSD and the provision of health, education, community services and food security. The hope is that Namibian institutions will take responsibility for most such activities by 2010.

In the Indian Ocean island States of Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles and Madagascar, UNHCR will seek durable solutions for the small number of refugees and asylum-seekers while assisting them through UNDP offices in Comoros and Madagascar.

In Swaziland, UNHCR will explore the possibility of phasing out assistance to some 1,000 refugees, most of whom are self-reliant, in view of increased Government spending on the displaced. During the May 2008 attacks on foreigners in South Africa, 18 Somali refugees fled to Swaziland seeking protection.

In Zimbabwe, there are some 3,340 refugees and asylum-seekers living at Tongogara camp and 1,720 in urban areas. The majority come from the DRC. Between mid-2005 and February 2008 the Zimbabwean authorities registered a total of 8,500 asylum-seekers from Somalia and Ethiopia; however, nearly all of them abandoned their applications and left before their eligibility interviews, presumably for South Africa.

The political impasse and deteriorating socio-economic situation, including hyperinflation, in Zimbabwe pose significant operational challenges for UNHCR. Restrictions on the activities of NGOs imposed during the election period and its aftermath have further reduced humanitarian space in Zimbabwe, although these constraints have not affected operations in Tongogara camp. UNHCR is prepared to respond to developments in Zimbabwe, whether they result in increased refugee flows to neighbouring States or provide opportunities for the return and reintegration of those who fled the country.

Financial information

UNHCR's requirements increased in 2006, mainly due to the Angolan repatriation. The budget included a supplementary programme, of which more than half was attributed for repatriation related activities, especially for country programmes in Angola and Zambia. The budget began to decline with the completion of the repatriation to Angola. In 2009, the budget includes requirements identified by the Global Needs Assessment initiative in Zambia, as well as a regional supplementary programme for the situation in Zimbabwe.