UN cannot reopen alleged Namibian refugee payouts case: Phororo

WINDHOEK, 05 FEB (NAMPA) - United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator in Namibia, Hopolang Phororo, has said the UN cannot revisit files dating back to 1989 regarding the resettlement and rehabilitation of over 40 000 Namibian refugees as the matter is closed.
The response follows accusations from the Former Refugees Repatriation Association of Namibia that the UN failed to account for N.dollars 21.7 million intended for reintegrating Namibian returnees after their repatriation from exile in 1989.
In a meeting with the group on Wednesday, Phororo said the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) successfully conducted the repatriation of former Namibian refugees and the returnees were received by the country of origin with a view toward having them integrated and rehabilitated by their government.
“If there were additional resources or finance at that point in time, it was sent back to Geneva and the UNCHR could not go back and start getting the same money back again. The case was closed and we cannot go back and take those files from many years ago,” Phororo explained.
She added that the UNCHR residual protection mandate repatriation programmes were limited to returnees being returned in safety and dignity by the country of origin.
“The country of origin was tasked with an effective reintegration programme. That was the mandate of the UNCHR at that point in time,” Phororo added.
She further said despite the many letters from the refugee association, nothing else could be done as the UN had exhausted all possibilities.
“This is now an issue of the Republic of Namibia. We can’t do anything about it, even if you take the letters to the UN Secretary-General, the UNHCR boss in Geneva, it is going to be the same thing. This is exhausted as far as the UN is involved. Maybe the minister of veterans’ affairs can look at it,” she said.
In response, the association’s president, Matheus Nangolo said that although the UN’s repatriation programme was successful, the resettlement and rehabilitation failed.
“What happened to the budgets of these programmes? The reasonable thing to do is that the UNHCR must provide the funds that were originally allocated so that we can complete the process it failed to implement in 1989,” Nangolo remarked.
Executive Director in the ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, Penda Naanda, who also attended the meeting, informed the group that the government was not involved in the rollout of any assistance package as it did not exist in 1989. He said he would assist the association in drafting a letter to seek an audience with Minister of Veterans’ Affairs, Frans Kapofi.
(NAMPA)
EB/EK/AS