By Wezi Tjaronda WINDHOEK Refugee commissioners of Namibia and South Africa met yesterday to discuss issues pertaining to refugees, including the irregular movement of asylum-seekers between the two countries. The meeting which was also attended by representatives of, among others, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Africa Humanitarian Action, also discussed economic migrants entering the two countries under the pretext of seeking asylum and strategic co-operation such as training, exchange programmes and sports activities. Namibia’s Commissioner for Refugees, Nkrumah Mushelenga, said yesterday that the meeting was part of the resolutions taken in 2006 by the Namibia South Africa Joint Defence and Security Commission, which asked the commissioners for refugees from the two countries to hold bilateral meetings and to review the situation of irregular movements of refugees as well. He said the commissioners would also look at refugee structures and chart the next course of action in terms of ensuring that the refugees were treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention as well as the countries’ laws. Mushelenga said Namibia plans to embark on re-registration of refugees in February for the country to ascertain the exact number of refugees and also to break this down to the number of the youth, the elderly, men, women and children in Namibia. Individual profiles of the refugees and their level of education will follow the database. The Refugee Commissioner added that a local integration policy will also be drafted afterwards, to see how qualified refugees can contribute to the development of the country. According to UNHCR Global Appeal 2007, the Namibian government has indicated willingness to explore durable solutions or options for refugees in the country, which include local integration for at least some of those refugees for whom voluntary repatriation is not a realistic solution. This, says the appeal, will need additional resources for a local integration initiative. The annual programme budget for Namibia in the appeal is N$2.4 million for repatriation of individual refugees, strengthening of registration, documentation and refugee status determination systems, resettlement of refugees ad external relations activities. The two delegations, including the organizations dealing with refugees, are at the Osire Refugee Camp today on a familiarization trip with the activities at the camp and also with the projects that refugees are engaged in. The delegation will hold several meetings with camp administrators, the Osire Refugee Committee, Osire women, youth, disabled and vulnerable children, and will also tour the camp including the Osire Health Centre. The South African Delegation is led by its Director for Refugee Affairs, Mkhwebane Tshehla. Most of the 6ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 000 refugees still in Namibia are from Angola, with others from Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.