UN still helping foreigners

2008-10-04 20:02

Johannesburg - Foreigners who have been re-integrated into their communities or found alternative accommodation will still be able to get help from UN High Commissioner for Refugees, a spokesman said on Saturday.

However, the option for further assistance will only apply to those who registered with the United Nations (UN) organisation.

" Those who are registered with us have an option to come back for assistance," spokesman Yusuf Hassan said.

The Gauteng provincial government closed down the refugee shelter in Glenanda on Rifle Range Road south of Johannesburg on Tuesday.

UN agencies gave the refugees - many of whom left their communities out of fear during the recent xenophobic attacks - money to find alternative accommodation.

Provincial government spokesperson Thabo Masebe said the camps needed to be closed by Saturday when the government's disaster declaration expired.

"Not everyone qualified for the financial assistance - which ranged between R700 and R1 000 - for several reasons. But those people were still being 'encouraged' to find alternative accommodation," he said.

The financial assistance was provided by the UNHCR.

Masebe said so far his office had not received any reports of problems from the returnees.

'' I have not received any reports from the communities to which some of the refugees returned to," he said.

Hassan said the UNHCR had stepped up its support to meet the needs the refugees and asylum seekers displayed during the May xenophobic attacks.

"UNHCR's contribution is intended to cushion the most vulnerable of the displaced persons and give them the opportunity to restart their lives," he said.

Hassan said the UNHCR would continue to provide protection and legal support to refugees and asylum seekers through its local partners.

- SAPA