Nearly 23,000 Angolans living in Zambia will lose their refugee status at the end of June, the government said Thursday in a final push for them to return home a decade after their civil war ended.

"Since the end of the civil war in Angola in April 2002, over 180,000 Angolan refugees have voluntarily and safely returned to and reintegrated in their country of origin," said a top home affairs official, Max Nkole.

"Today, only some 23,000 Angolan refugees remain registered in Zambia," said the permanent secretary in a statement.

"Those Angolan refugees remaining in Zambia who were granted refugee status on account of the civil war in Angola... should now be able to reclaim the national protection of their country of origin," Nkole said.

Their refugee status would end on June 30, and that Angolans wishing to stay in the country would need to apply for visas.

During the 27-year civil war, 600,000 Angolans fled their country to neighbouring states, according to official figures. Most have now returned home, and Zambia has for years been urging the rest to follow.

Since the end of the war, Angola's oil wealth has made the economy one of the fastest growing in the world, but two thirds of the population remain in extreme poverty.