Congo/DRC: UN agency to begin repatriation of thousands to Equateur

The first 100 of some 58,000 refugees who had been living in the Republic of Congo (ROC) in the past six years are due to begin returning to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)'s Equateur Province on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the UN refugees agency, UNHCR, announced. The spokeswoman, Jennifer Pagonis, said on Tuesday in Geneva that the operation would be "one of the most logistically challenging major refugee voluntary repatriation programmes" the agency had undertaken anywhere in the world.