Japan donates one million dollars for UNHCR’s Ethiopian programs

Aug 4, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — Japan has made a cash donation of one million U.S. dollars to the Ethiopian programs of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN refugee agency said on Friday.

Japan, which has already contributed 58 million dollars to theUNHCR’s global refugee programs, has always been at the forefront in supporting the refugee agency’s humanitarian work, said Fernando Protti-Alvarado, deputy representative of the Addis Ababa-based UNHCR’s regional liaison office.

“This yet another generous support from the government of Japan will help implement some of our crucial programs in the Ethiopian operation,” he said in a news release.

Ethiopia currently hosts close to 100,000 refugees in seven camps. The majority of the refugees are Sudanese who fled their country due to the 21-year-old north-south conflict. There are a significant number of Somali and Eritrean refugees as well.

The signing of the comprehensive peace agreement between the Sudanese warring factions in January 2005 has ended the conflict in the south, creating conditions suitable for the return of the refugees.

Some 2,500 have already gone home from March to May this year under a UNHCR-organized voluntary repatriation program. The repatriation will continue till the end of the rainy season.

The Ethiopian operation has a total budget of more than 15 million dollars this year.

(Xinhua/ST)