Former exiles face hardship

30 March 2007 - 02:00
By unknown

LUANDA - Angolans returning home after years in exile from civil war will face huge challenges in a country gearing up for its first national elections in more than a decade, a senior UN official said.

LUANDA - Angolans returning home after years in exile from civil war will face huge challenges in a country gearing up for its first national elections in more than a decade, a senior UN official said.

Antonio Guterres, the UN high commissioner for refugees, said 410000 people had returned in the last four years, many returning to areas still devastated after a 27-year war that ended in 2002.

Guterres said on Wednesday: "These provinces still have a lot of landmines, the infrastructure has been massively destroyed by the war and is recovering at a very slow pace." - Reuters