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| Posted to the web on September 20, 2008 |
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September 20, 2008 (Addis Ababa) — Ethiopia, Sudan and the United Nations High Commission for Refugee(UNCHR) agreed on Friday to repatriate 12, 000 Sudanese refugees from Ethiopia.
“The Tripartite Commission on the voluntary repatriation of Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia projected a repatriation figure of 12,000 for the year 2009 - a number close to half of the 26,492 refugees currently in Ethiopia,” UNHCR told APA.
Most of the Sudanese refugees will go from Fugnido camp in Gambella in northern Ethiopia which is accommodating 21,690 refugees.
UNHCR said that a further 2,000 are expected to return to Upper Nile and other Sudanese states during late 2008 if conditions allow.
Composed of officials of the governments of Ethiopia and Sudan and representatives of UNHCR, the Commission was established by the Tripartite Agreement, and the three sides had signed in February 2006 which paved the way for tens of thousands of refugees to be repatriated in a safe and dignified manner.
The Commission expressed concern on the accessibility problems that afflict the repatriation operation, particularly the collapse of the Pagak bridge in Gambella Regional State of Ethiopia and inaccessibility of a 17km of the Kuorgen-Pagak road.
It also recommended the option of airlift for those going to otherwise inaccessible destinations in Southern Sudan such as Akobo and Pochalla.
The communiqué commended the people and government of Ethiopia for providing refuge to more than 90,000 Sudanese refugees for more than 20 years and noted that the areas adversely affected by decades of refugees’ presence need to be rehabilitated.
“The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) on 9 January 2005 represented a major turning point in the history of Sudan as it ended more than two decades of civil war,” UNHCR said.
UNHCR launched the voluntary repatriation operation of some half a million Sudanese refugees in some seven neighbouring countries the same year as the CPA was signed.
To date, more than 290,000 have returned home from all countries both with UNHCR support and on their own.
The repatriation from Ethiopia was launched in March 2006 and, to date; more than 35,000 of the refugees were able to return home in a safe and dignified manner.
As a result of these successful home-ward movements, three of the five camps in Ethiopia namely, Yarenja, Bonga and Dimma were closed in 2007 and 2008. Fugnido in Gambella and Sherkole in Benishangul-Gumuz today shelter 26,492 refugees.
UNHCR has been present in South Sudan since October 2004 and has opened 13 offices, three of which have been closed after concluding the repatriation of Sudanese refugees from the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
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