Congo, Republic of the (ROC) - Migration



There is continuous migration to urban centers, but immigration from other African countries is negligible. Some French, Greek, and Lebanese immigrants have settled in the Congo. At the end of 1992, the Congo was harboring 9,500 African refugees. About 10,000 Zairians have been forcibly deported in recent years as economic migrants rather than political refugees. In 1995, the Congo was host to 15,500 refugees, 12,700 of whom were from Angola and 2,100 from Chad.

Civil conflict engulfed the ROC in 1998 resulting in the displacement of some 200,000 residents of the southern districts of Brazzaville. Some 40,000 of those were able to break away to the DROC, following 20,000 others from the ROC who had earlier arrived in the Bas Congo province of the DROC. In 1999, the ROC, the DROC, and UNHCR signed an agreement, launching a repatriation operation. Later that year approximately 36,000 refugees had returned to Brazzaville. In 2000 the net migration rate for the Congo was -0.3 per 1,000 population.

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