SUDAN: 7,500 ZAIRE REFUGEES STILL LIVING IN SUDAN TEN YEARS AFTER THE SIMBA WAR ENDS.

Record ID: 275337

  • Title: SUDAN: 7,500 ZAIRE REFUGEES STILL LIVING IN SUDAN TEN YEARS AFTER THE SIMBA WAR ENDS.
  • Date: 18th November 1975
  • Summary: 1. GV & SV huts in village (3 shots). 0.14 2. SV villager cleaning teeth PAN to other villagers talking. 0.22 3. SV child. 0.24 4. GV children in village. 0.38 5. GV village. 0.43 Initials MV/0120 NOTE TO BILL WARD: This film was shot in about 10 minutes.... as the light had gone by the time we got there... looked very think to
  • Embargoed: 3rd December 1975 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SUDAN NEAR BORDER WITH ZAIRE
  • Country: Sudan
  • Reuters ID: LVACUPKU3JUU1VXLPG2SHVGLG3XD
  • Story Text: There are still 7,500 Zaire refugees living in villages near the Zaire border in Sudan despite the fact that Simba war which made them homeless ended ten years ago.

    Until recently they were assisted by the United Nations High Commission for refugees. Now the UNHC has pulled out of the area and the refugees have to fend for themselves.

    Although many of them long to return to their homeland they are wary to do so. In 1972 President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire declared an amnesty for people who in the past had opposed him. But the refugees still in Sudan believe that when some of their colleagues - including some of their leaders - returned home they were arrested and executed on President Mobutu's orders.

    Last month the refugees sent a delegation to talk to the President but a spokesman for those left in Sudan, Mr. Stephen Akofalia, said they too were arrested and their whereabouts unknown.

    Mr. Akofalia said they would all like to go home but under the circumstances it was impossible.

    There are still 7500 Zaire refugees living in Sudan -- they have been here since the Simba war, since 1965. Until recently the United Nation Agency for Refugees assisted them but now the UN has pulled out and the refugees have to look after themselves. In 1972 President of Zaire Mobutu declared amnesty and several refugees went home including some of their leaders.When the leaders got back to Zaire they were arrested and executed on orders from Mobutu. Last month the refugees sent a delegation to talk to Mobutu, but they were arrested and have not been heard of since. The refugee leader at this camp -- Stephen Akofali said they would all like to go back home but it was impossible to do so under the present circumstances. The refugee settlements are spread over a large area all along the borders of Sudan with Zaire........
    SYNOPSIS: This is one of the villages in Sudan near the Zaire border where some of the seven and a half thousand refugees form Zaire are living. They've been living here for ten years now - since the Simba war in Zaire ended in nineteen-sixty-five.

    Although most of the refugees look well they long to return to their homeland. Three years ago Zaire's President Mobutu Sese Seko declared an amnesty for those who had opposed him but the Zaire refugees in the Sudan believe their colleagues who returned were arrested, and some of them executed.

    Intvu with refugee leader Stephen Akofali; general shots of refugees.... men women and children; more shots of children -- these three kids were born here in this camp; more same; refugee woman carry water.
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