Refugees return from Sudan continues

The UNHCR programme to repatriate some 90,000 Eritrean refugees in Sudan “moved into high gear” at the weekend with the deployment of more than 100 trucks. UNHCR intended to make better progress in the coming days on moving refugees from Gulsa, Lafa and Shagarab camps in Kassala state, eastern Sudan, after heavy rains last week turned sand tracks into mud pits and slowed down convoys, agency spokeswoman Delphine Marie stated. Returning refugees took their personal possessions as well as blankets, plastic sheeting and kitchen sets that UNHCR had distributed in the camps.

It was also distributing a two-month food ration to departing refugees, she said. Most of the refugees were returning to the Tesseney area in southwestern Eritrea, where shops had begun to re-open amid the devastation caused by the Ethiopian invasion of the town following many spontaneous returns from Sudan and elsewhere inside Eritrea, Marie stated. People would have to start planting crops immediately to take advantage of the rainy season, but there were still some security problems in the southwest, including the presence of landmines, she added.

Some parts were reported to be still under Ethiopian occupation, so a number of returnees would have to remain in transit camps until UN peacekeeping forces were deployed, the UNHCR briefing stated.