The Angolan government has already issued refugee status permit to over 400 Somalis to allow them work and stay in the country legally.

Somali community members welcomed the Angolan government’s decision to recognize Somali refugees in the country by allowing them to get legal documents that are vital for their stay in Angola.

The community chairman said the decision to document Somali refugees in the country came as a result of their continued campaign through the UNHCR and relevant Angolan authorities to have Somalis recognized as refugees.

Sharmake Abdinoor who is the spokesman of the Somali community in Angola welcomed the move, saying that it will now ease the travel restriction facing Somalis in this country.

The southern African country is home to hundreds of Somali refugees who immigrated there after fleeing violence and famine from their home country.

The decision comes days after Angolan police in Luanda’s main airport arrested seven Somali nationals after they were found entering the country using fake Visas.

The seven, six men and a woman, from Somalia who allegedly obtained these fake Visas from South Africa faces deportation to Somalia in line with Angolan immigration law.