Eritrea & Sudan
180,000 refugees to go back to Eritrea

afrol News, 27 April - The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) and the government of Sudan on Saturday will launch an information campaign in Sudan’s eastern refugee camps to pave the way for a planned massive repatriation to Eritrea that is scheduled to start later this year for more than 180,000 refugees. 

Most of them have been exiled in Sudan for decades. They are one of the world’s oldest refugee groups, the UN agency informed today. 

- During the information campaign the refugees will be told of travel arrangements for their return to Eritrea as well as food, household and cash entitlements they can count on, said UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond in Geneva today.

Although few of the refugees are returning to areas that have mine risks, mine awareness information will also be made available. The territory occupied by Ethiopia in the recent war between the two countries was heavily mined. "The information campaign will be followed immediately by a registration of refugees who have volunteered to return to Eritrea," Redmond said. 

The first group of Eritrean refugees fled to Sudan as early as 1967 during Eritrea’s war of independence from Ethiopia. At the time they were considered Ethiopian nationals. These 147,000 refugees remain in a string of 23 camps close to Sudan’s border with Eritrea. 

UNHCR expects to complete the return of these refugees - together with some 27,000 who fled Eritrea last year - by December 2002. "An estimated 62,000 will have returned home by the end of this year," Redmond said. The planned return operation stems from an agreement reached one year ago between Sudan, Eritrea and UNHCR.

Repatriation in Eritrea will be a difficult task for these long-time refugees and the Eritrean government, which needs to provide opportunities for this large group. Some are in the midst of university studies and cannot switch to the Eritrean educational system. Others have found jobs in Sudan and are uncertain whether they will be able to find work back home in Eritrea.

Sources: Based on UNHCR

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