2,000 Sudanese refugees in Uganda to return home

June 6, 2006 (KAMPALA) — Over 2,000 Sudanese in northern Uganda are about to go home, an official of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said on Tuesday.

Roberta Russo, External Relations Officer UNHCR Kampala told Xinhua that the agency will start the repatriation of over 2,000 Sudanese refugees in Arua district to Yei in southern Sudan in mid June.

She said UNHCR plans to operate repatriation convoys several times per week.

Meanwhile some 2,600 refugees have returned home from Moyo district in northern Ugandan to Kajo Keji County in South Sudan since early May.

According to UNHCR, some 27,000 Sudanese have so far registered to repatriate, out of the 216,000 living in refugee camps in Uganda.

The beginning of the repatriation operation follows the signing of a Tripartite Voluntary Repatriation Agreement among UNHCR, Sudan and Uganda in late March.

There are still 350,000 Sudanese refugees in neighboring countries and some 4 million internally displaced inside Sudan.

Over 7,000 refugees have been repatriated by the UNHCR since 2005 while 71,705 returned to Sudan on their own.

(Xinhua/ST)