UN resumes repatriation of Sudanese from Ethiopia
Dec 13, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — With the dry season back in position, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR on Wednesday repatriated 500 Sudanese refugees from the western Ethiopian camp of Bonga.
Wednesday’s repatriation marked the resumption of the return operation that was started in March but had to be suspended later in May due to the advent of the rainy season which rendered the roads impassable. UNHCR assisted the return of more than 2,500 Sudanese refugees from Bonga and Sherkole camps before heavy rains prevented any further major movement by road.
This group of returnees, which are heading for Chali El Fiel and Nyille villages of the Blue Nile State in south Sudan, will spend three nights on the road, covering 820 km before finally entering Sudan through the border crossing point of Kurumuk on the fourth day.
“We had to take this long and apparently tiring route because the other options are either not suitable or unsafe, or both,” said Wella Kouyou, who heads UNHCR’s sub-office in Gambella State where Bonga is located. “They spend the three nights in way- stations which we have set up inside Ethiopia at an average distance of 270 km.”
This latest convoy of buses and trucks took home refugees who had previously been declared medically unfit to travel. Many have since recovered and have received medical authorization to make the long journey home. Three more convoys of 500 people each are scheduled to be sent to Sudan over the next two weeks.
Most of the Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia had been in exile since 1987, and the fact that 311 (around 62.2 percent of the total) of today’s returnees belong to the age bracket of 18 years and below shows that the majority of them were born and brought up in Ethiopia.
Before leaving Bonga, a camp of 17,000 refugees, the returnees received a re-integration package consisting of blankets, jerry cans, sleeping mats, a water filter and a sanitary kit for girls and women. Additional supplies of soap, plastic sheeting, mosquito nets, plastic buckets and kitchen utensils will be distributed to the returnees before they cross the border in to Sudan. These supplies have been stockpiled at Kurumuk in order to reduce the amount of domestic supplies carried by refugees from Bonga.
Upon arrival in Sudan, a re-integration package comprising three months of food, seeds and agricultural tools will be provided by the World Food Program (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Sudan’s 21-year-old conflict ended in January last year when a peace agreement was concluded between the SPLA/M and the government of Sudan. UNHCR, together with other UN agencies and partner NGOs, has been struggling to lay the ground inside Sudan to receive returnees.
At the moment, Ethiopia hosts close to 69,000 Sudanese refugees in five camps, namely, Bonga, Fugnido, Dimma, Sherkole and Yarenja. The country also plays host to 16,387 and 12,444 refugees from Somalia and Eritrea respectively. Close to 700 others originating from 13 different countries also exist in the country.
(Xinhua)