The Zambian Foreign Minister, Keli Walubita, has said that ten to fifteen thousand Angolan refugees are stranded at the Zambian border, after crossing from Angola in the past few days.

Speaking in a BBC interview, Mr Walubita said many of the refugees were maimed, elderly or blind and were not able to look after themselves.

He appealed to the international community to help the United Nations refugee agency deal with the big influx of Angolan refugees who are fleeing the civil war in their country. He said he'd seen the problem for himself on a visit to his western parliamentary constituency, which lies along the Angolan border.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service