About 5,000 refugees, who fled violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo four years ago, are opting to head home voluntarily from Zambia over the coming months.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR said the first 100 people had set out to return to the country on Tuesday, adding that security had improved sufficiently in Congo’s Pweto territory, Haut-Katanga province, for them to go home in safety and dignity.

The UN Agency Spokesperson, Babar Baloch told journalists in Geneva that as security has improved in some areas of Haut-Katanga, an estimated 20,000 refugees have spontaneously left Zambia since 2018 to return to their areas of origin, mainly to Pweto territory.

Inter-ethnic clashes as well as fighting between Congolese security forces and militia groups in parts of southeastern of the country in 2017 have uprooted communities.

Through intention surveys carried out in October by UN agency  , some 4,774 refugees expressed their aim to voluntarily return to Congo.

The voluntary repatriation, which will continue into 2022, is part of the ongoing 2006 tripartite agreement between UNHCR and the governments of Zambia and Congo.