UN resumes repatriation of Sudanese refugees to Blue Nile
December 18, 2007 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has resumed the repatriation of Sudanese refugees from Ethiopia to Blue Nile State, after a six month suspension due to heavy rains and poor road conditions.
The first convoy carrying 610 passengers crossed the border into Sudan at 8:00 AM on Tuesday, after a three-day journey led them from the Bonga refugee camp in western Ethiopia to Kurmuk where they were received by government authorities, the HCR announced.
The convoy reached its final destination at Chali where it arrived after a four-hour drive. The returning refugees are ethnic Uduks, a minority Christian population in the Kurmuk area, who mostly fled to Ethiopia in the ‘90s.
Two other convoys of about 1,200 persons are scheduled to arrive from Bonga camp in the coming days, which will bring this year’s total organized return figure to over 50,000.
“Repatriation will continue into next year because of refugees’ strong desire to make it home before the next rainy season hampers movement again after May” said Chris Ache, UNHCR’s representative in Sudan.
“Before we resumed mass repatriation, some refugees in Bonga were so impatient about coming back that they threatened to walk the more than 800 km separating their camps from Sudan!” he further added.
In partnership with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), UNHCR has transported 13,000 refugees back to Blue Nile State since March 2006, when the return operation to the area first kicked off from Ethiopia. The majority of them (11,000) are Uduk tribesmen.
More globally, the two agencies have helped over 74,000 refugees return to Sudan from neighboring countries since the signing of Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the two decade north-south civil war.
(ST)