Ogoni refugees not inclined to return home

Despite Nigeria’s return to civilian rule, Ogoni refugees who fled the southeast of the country have opted not to return home, the UNHCR said in its mid-term report for 1999. In fact, UNHCR said it had received at least 270 new asylum requests from Ogonis and that 300 of about 860 Ogoni refugees had been accepted for resettlement in third countries. “The overwhelming majority wanted to go to the US, Canada or South Africa,” a UNHCR official told IRIN on Tuesday. The Ogonis fled what they considered was the repressive rule of military ruler General Sani Abacha. UNHCR also reported that during the period under review, another 60 asylum seekers arrived in Benin from the Great Lakes region, bringing to at least 800 the number already in the West African country. Some have since been successfully resettled in Burkina Faso.