Banjul- Gambia (PANA) -- An appeal has been made to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) headquarters to consider extending the deadline for the voluntary repatriation of Sierra Leonean refugees from the Gambia to their country of origin. Full text...

Kigali- Rwanda (PANA) -- Rwandan authorities have moved 25 families of Congolese refugees of Rwandan Tutsi origin from a transit centre near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo to Kiziba in the country's north-west. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The Italian government has donated 350,000 Euros to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, to assist Sudanese, Somali and Ethiopia refugees in Kenya. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- Congo-Brazzaville is playing host to about 120,000 refugees from DR Congo, more than half of whom hail from the province of Equator, DR Congo minister of Solidarity and Humanitarian Affairs revealed here Tuesday. Full text...

Geneva- Switzerland (PANA) -- Nearly a month after more than 150 Congolese refugees were massacred in Burundi, large numbers appear have returned to DR Congo though the UN refugee agency does not believe conditions in their home areas allow for a safe or sustainable return. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The UN refugee agency, UNHCR plans to repatriate over 100,000 Somali refugees currently living in Kenya should the war-torn country form a new government, the agency said here Monday. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- Some 212,500 Burundese refugees returned home since 2002, according to sources at the UNHCR local office here, which explained that 76,881 of the returnees were repatriated early this year. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- The voluntary repatriation of Burundi refugees in Tanzania might stop, the UN High Commission for Refugees (HCR) warned Friday, citing a shortage in funds for the operation. Full text...

Banjul- Gambia (PANA) -- Gambian authorities Friday confirmed the arrest and detention of more than 20 Liberian refugees on a charge of "unlawful assembly". Full text...

Oru- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigeria's leading mobile telecommunications company, MTN, has donated relief items worth 500,000 naira to refugees from eight African countries at the Oru camp in south- west Nigeria. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- The repatriation of Angolan refugees from Zambia and Namibia is to gain fresh impetus following the release of three million euro by the European Commission for the transport and logistics of up to 45,000 persons from the two countries back to their homeland. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has signed a tripartite agreement for the voluntary repatriation of DR Congo refugees in the Central African Republic. Full text...

New York- UN (PANA) -- While two UN missions probe the mid-August massacre at the Gatumba refugee camp in Burundi, Secretary- General Kofi Annan has said that eyewitnesses blamed a rebel group from DR Congo, along with Rwandan elements, for the incident. Full text...

New York- UN (PANA) -- The UN on Wednesday appealed to donors for urgently needed funds to fill a huge shortfall in humanitarian assistance to the war-affected population of Darfur, in western Sudan. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- The UN refugee agency, UNHCR office in Kinshasa announced Tuesday that it repatriated 215 Angolan refugees to Luanda on Sunday. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, has established a computerised database to improve monitoring and identification of refugees in Uganda, an official said here Sunday. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- Burundian authorities will soon move hundreds of refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to more secure zones away from the common border between the two countries, in accordance with international agreements dealing with this category of displaced people. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- The families of some 160 Congolese refugees killed last 12 August in a transit camp in Gatumba ended the traditional mourning period Saturday, in a ceremony attended by several Burundi. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- Unrest has forced about 2500 people to flee eastern Democratic of Congo's South-Kivu province and seek refuge in Uganda, officials reported. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Of some 70,000 Mauritanian refugees registered in 1989 in Senegal, 20,000 are still living in camps on the left bank of the River Senegal, according to a study carried out by the Sahel Club. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- Fifty-seven Rwandan refugees have been repatriated home from a camp in Uganda's western Mbarara district, refugee authorities said in Kampala Monday. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- US Ambassador Aurelia Brazeal Thursday handed over a donation of 20,000 dollars in refugee assistance to supplement education programmes in three camps hosting Eritrean and Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia. Full text...

Kigali- Rwanda (PANA) -- DR Congo vice president Azarias Ruberwa said here Wednesday that Rwanda had offered to assist in the repatriation of Congolese nationals of Rwandan extraction, who fled the incidents of last June in eastern DR Congo. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- International efforts to resettle tens of thousands of Angolan refugees who have returned home are being hampered by acute shortfall in funding, the World Food Programme (WFP) conceded here Tuesday. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- Hundreds of former Rwandan refugees have returned to Uganda shortly after thousands of them had voluntarily returned to Kigali recently, government authorities and the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said in Kampala Wednesday. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- Some 364 Burundian refugees have returned from neighbouring Tanzania with the support of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, national news agency, ABP, reported Wednesday. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- The UN Mission in Congo (MONUC) has begun the repatriation of some 10,823 Rwandan, Burundian, Ugandan, Burundian and other ex-fighters and their dependants in DR Congo. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- No Ghanaian has been identified among the 37 foreigners picked up by a German ship to Rome awaiting the decision of the Italian authorities over whether to grant them refugee status, the foreign ministry said in Accra Wednesday. Full text...

Geneva- Switzerland (PANA) -- As part of efforts to better address the plight of 50 million people uprooted from their homes by war and other emergencies around the world, the UN has created a new office to "fill in the gaps" that previous efforts failed to tackle, a UN official said. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Australia has pledged to help Kenya repatriate Sudanese and Somali refugees at the conclusions of the ongoing peace processes in the two neighbouring countries Speaking at a meeting with Kenyan foreign minister Ali Chirau Mwakwere, the Australian High Commissioner Paul Comfort also reaffirmed his government's commitment to provide financial and humanitarian assistance to Kenya to help alleviate the suffering among refugees hosted by the East African nation. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- The World Food Programme (WFP) warned Tuesday that it would run out of food by the end of this month for 27,000 refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) trapped in Chad, unless substantial contributions were made. Full text...

Mogadishu- Somalia (PANA) -- An unidentified group of Somali gunmen has forced 172 refugees from Zanzibar Island in Tanzania to vacate a camp owned by the Mogadishu Water Agency where they had lived since late 2001. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- Thousands of Sudanese refugees displaced by recent rebel attacks on Uganda's north-western Moyo district, could face severe hunger if urgent steps are not taken, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR warned Thursday. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- More than 10,000 DR Congo refugees have fled to Uganda's north-western district of Nebbi following renewed fighting last week between ethnic militias of the Lendu tribe and the rebel Forces of Allied People of Congo (FAPC) in the Ituri region, Ugandan local administration officials said. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- A high-ranking government official in Kenya has accused the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for neglecting the needs of hundreds of refugees in the country, and forcing them to engage in activities that were detrimental to the country's environmental conservation efforts. Full text...

Monrovia- Liberia (PANA) -- The UN refugee agency, UNHCR in Monrovia has extended from 30 June to 16 July, the deadline for voluntary repatriation of thousands of Sierra Leonean refugees from Liberia. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Zambian government has launched the voluntary repatriation of Angolan refugees from Ukwimi refugee camp in the Eastern province of the country. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- Thousands of people fleeing renewed ethnic fighting in northeastern Ituri, DR Congo have flocked into northwestern Uganda, with local authorities in the district of Nebbi confirming the presence of about 2,700 Congolese refugees. Full text...

Brazzaville- Congo (PANA) -- Former members of the Zairian army will soon be repatriated from Congo (Brazzaville) where they have lived in exile since 1997, Azarias Manywa Rubery, DR Congo's vice-president in charge of the policy, defence, and security Commission revealed here Saturday. Full text...

Kinshasa- RD Congo (PANA) -- Some 130 Angolan refugees Bas-Congo province in DR Congo were repatriated this week under the auspices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR), official sources disclosed here. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- Director General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Koichiro Matsuura has pledged to boost humanitarian agencies' assistance to war victims in northern Uganda. Full text...

Luanda- Angola (PANA) -- Angola's social assistance and reintegration ministry Friday started the repatriation of some 40,000 Angolan refugees from the DR Congo, in conjunction with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Full text...

New York- UN (PANA) -- What was once the world's largest refugee camp, hosting more than 250,000 Somalis in Ethiopia, has closed after the last return convoy left Wednesday for northwest Somalia, UNHCR said Thursday. Full text...

New York- UN (PANA) -- As it prepares for the potential return of more than 500,000 people to southern Sudan if the current peace talks succeed in ending the civil war, the UN refugee agency has appealed for $90 million to handle the expected influx. Full text...

Washington- US (PANA) -- At least 20,000 out of the 50,000 refugees expected to enter the United States in 2004 will be from the African continent, the director of the NGO Catholic Charities Refugees, Becky Jordan, revealed Monday in Washington D. Full text...

Oru- Nigeria (PANA) -- The UN refugee agency, UNHCR Monday repatriated some 170 Sierra Leoneans from the Oru Camp in south-west Nigeria to Freetown, bringing the total number of those so far returned to 278 since December 2003. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- A tripartite meeting between Tanzania, Burundi and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR) started here Tuesday with focus on the plight of Burundi refugees in neighbouring countries, particularly Tanzania. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Refugees on the African continent are longing to return to their homes but new situations arise each day to keep them on the run for their lives. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner Kamel Morjane is on the second day of his five-day visit to Sudan where he is discussing the potential return to south Sudan of 600,000 refugees who fled to neighbouring countries during the 21-year civil war. Full text...

Luanda- Angola (PANA) -- The UK has donated 1. Full text...