UNCHR on Thursday began repatriating over 1,400 Ethiopian refugees from the Dadaab camps of northeastern Kenya to Gode and Jijiga in Ethiopia's Ogaden region. In a statement, received by IRIN, UNHCR said it expected the airlift to continue for several weeks after the repatriation of the first batch of 53 refugees. Many of the refugees had fled the Ogaden war between Somalia and Ethiopia, which broke out in 1977. UNHCR said the airlift marks the last large return movement of long-time Ethiopian refugees from Kenya, which once hosted nearly 100,000 Ethiopian refugees.
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