First group of Darfur refugees repatriated

KHARTOUM, Sudan, June 11, 2005 (UPI) — The Sudanese government began repatriating displaced Sudanese families to their homes in war-torn Darfur province under the monitoring of the United Nations.

Sudanese women and children sit in front of a tent on the sand in the Kalma camp for internally displaced persons on the outskirts of the southern Darfur town of Nyala. (AFP).

The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said Saturday the first 200 refugees, mostly women, children and elderly, departed Thursday from the refugee camp of Kalma aboard 20 trucks provided by the Sudanese government.

The refugees must travel several days before reaching Darfur in western Sudan, the U.N. said, stressing the operation is taking place under the monitoring of U.N. observers.

A U.N. observer said the international organization is making sure refugees are being repatriated voluntarily and not forced to return to their homes, where they will be provided with humanitarian assistance.

Sudanese authorities are planning to repatriate some 30,000 refugees to their homes in western Sudan in the next few months.