THE United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said on Saturday that 400 Angolan refugees had been repatriated from the neighbouring Republic of Congo. ”They arrived on Friday in Cabinda province where they are restarting their lives,” Julie Stewart, an external relations officer with the UNHCR, said from Cabinda. Oil-rich Cabinda is a coastal sliver of Angolan territory cut off from the rest of the country that is wedged between Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The refugees, who have been in Congo since 1993, fled Angola’s horrific civil war that pits the government against the Unita rebel movement. Stewart said the refugees had asked to be returned home. The government and the UNHCR are providing them with food and shelter in Cabinda. More than 400 other refugees will be brought to Cabinda from Congo over the coming week, she said. ”There are still 30,000 Angolan refugees in Congo and I do not know when they will be repatriated,” Stewart said. – Reuters