U.N. planning massive effort to get African refugees home
By NAOMI KOPPEL Associated Press Writer
GENEVA, Feb 13, 2004 (AP) — Almost two-thirds of all the refugees in Africa could go home thanks to a series of peace treaties and political improvements across the continent, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.
“There is now cause for cautious optimism about resolving some of the most protracted refugee and displacement situations on the continent,” said Ron Redmond, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
“For the first time in many years, we see multiple possibilities for the potential repatriation of up to 2 million refugees from several African states.”
Redmond said the returns could occur “over the next few years” if sufficient preparations can be made.
UNHCR has called a conference of African ministers, donors and aid agencies on March 8 in Geneva to work out a blueprint for the assistance and money needed to get the refugees home and support them once they are there.
UNHCR named nine countries where it was encouraged by “the general direction things are going” – Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, Burundi, Rwanda and Congo. Between them those countries account for 2 million refugees, while another 3 million people are displaced within their own country.
“Given the enormous potential for finding lasting solutions for so many people, UNHCR believes the international community needs to seize this opportunity and take a comprehensive regional approach toward ensuring repatriation and sustainable reintegration in Africa,” Redmond said.
Many obstacles lie ahead, however. Many of the countries lack the infrastructure and employment opportunities to reintegrate so many returnees, while land mines and continued outbreaks of violence are a problem in many areas.
The success of the project will depend on long-term support from donors and aid agencies to ensure stable conditions for the refugees and a start to development projects in the areas, he said.
“We are certainly going to be encouraging donors to pay sustained attention to each of these situations.”
Redmond acknowledged, however, that there are still areas of Africa where refugees continue to flee or where it is not yet possible for them to return home.
While the situation is improving in the southern part of Sudan, a new flood of refugees has crossed the border from the western part of the country into neighboring Chad in recent months. UNHCR estimates there are now more than 100,000 refugees in that part of Chad.
Although more than 400,000 refugees have returned to Somalia over the past 12 years, the same number again remain scattered around the world, and parts of the country still are relatively unsafe and inaccessible.
There also is no immediate solution for the problem of some 200,000 Western Saharan refugees who have lived in camps in Algeria since Morocco annexed the territory in 1975.
As of early 2003, UNHCR estimated there were 3.3 million refugees in Africa. The U.N.-sponsored Global IDP Project estimates that there are 12.7 million people displaced within their own country.