There is a significant population of Angolans in Zambia.
Migration history
With
Zambia
Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...
's
1964 independence from the British Empire, many members of national liberation movements in neighbouring countries, including
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
, found the country a hospitable base for their operations. However, eastern Angola (near the border with Zambia) was less densely populated than the northern region adjacent to
Zaire
Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...
(now the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
); Zaire and not Zambia thus because the primary destination for Angolan refugees in those days. Most of these refugees were of
Balovale ethnicity, an ethnic group also present in Zambia. The Zambian government aimed to move them away from the border; they were settled first at
Zambezi
The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than half of t ...
in
North-Western Province and in
Mayukwayukwa in
Western Province. Later, due to ethnic tensions, those in Zambezi were transferred to
Meheba near
Solwezi
Solwezi is a town in Zambia. It is the provincial capital of the mineral-rich North-Western Province. Solwezi is also the administrative capital of Solwezi District, one of the eleven districts in the North-Western Province.
Geography Locati ...
(also in Northwestern Province). The refugee population reached roughly 25,000 by 1972, despite efforts by the Zambian government to control the influx and return new arrivals to Angola.
With the onset of the 1975
Angolan Civil War
The Angolan Civil War () was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. It was a power struggle between two for ...
, the number of refugees began to expand, and repatriation efforts also came to a halt.
Peace briefly returned to Angola with the 1991
Bicesse Accords
The Bicesse Accords, also known as the Estoril Accords, laid out a transition to multi-party democracy in Angola under the supervision of the United Nations' UNAVEM II mission. President José Eduardo dos Santos of the MPLA and Jonas Savimb ...
and brought hope to the government that they could repatriate the refugees, but fighting resumed in 1992, resulting in a new influx. By the end of that year, the number of Angolan refugees had reached 101,779. The number would continue to expand; by 2001, it was estimated that there were 200,000 Angolan refugees in Zambia, making up about 77% of all refugees in the country. Rather than living in refugee camps or finding assistance through government resettlement schemes, many Angolan refugees settled on their own in Zambian villages.
In 2002, a peace deal was brokered which ended the war. By 2006, an estimated 63,000 had repatriated to Angola. However, the term "repatriation" itself may be misleading; one study of Angolans in Zambia found that they saw themselves simply as villagers; relocating from their villages in Zambia to Angola was not perceived as going home, but in contrast as ''leaving'' home in search of a better life.
See also
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Demographics of Zambia
References
Notes
Sources
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Further reading
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{{Ethnic groups in Zambia
Zambia
Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...
Ethnic groups in Zambia
Angola–Zambia relations