IDPs prepare to return to their villages

Some 2,208 families who have been living in makeshift camps in the southern Mai-wurai and Senafe areas since the 1998-2000 border war with Ethiopia are preparing to return to their villages, the Eritrean government has said.

Experts were setting up the necessary facilities for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Hadish-Adi and Lahyo areas, and in villages located in the eastern escarpment, to which they would return, the Eritrean government said in a statement on Tuesday.

The statement did not say why the IDPs had decided to return to their villages at this time, and when they would actually arrive.

Mustafa Nurhusein, the administrator of the southern region, said the government would extend all possible support to enable the IDPs to settle down and prepare their farms for the next rainy season.

They would also be provided with health and education services, the government added.

Tens of thousands of Eritreans who fled their homes during the border war have been living in camps and are unable to return to their homes due to landmines and continuing border insecurity.

The two neighbours have remained in a tense standoff ever since Ethiopia rejected the April 2002 decision of an independent boundary commission, which was set up as part of the peace agreement that ended the war.

The commission awarded the key town of Badme to Eritrea, but Ethiopia has refused to implement the ruling despite demands by various international groups.