Refugee repatriations from Sudan to resume

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, says the voluntary repatriation of Eritreans from Sudan is set to resume soon.

The convoys, returning Eritrean refugees to their homeland, stopped last October due to military activity in the Kassala area of Sudan and the closure of the Eritrea-Sudan border.

In a report, UNHCR said there had been "positive negotiations" between the agency and the governments of Sudan and Eritrea with a view to resuming the repatriations.

"Constant engagement by UNHCR and the governments of Sudan and Eritrea, in remaining responsive to the need to continue the voluntary repatriation operation, is expected to result in an agreement between the two governments to resume repatriation," it said.

Some 36,000 Eritreans have registered to return home. A major operation to return Eritreans, who fled to Sudan during Eritrea's 30-year independence war, began in May 2001. The previous year, UNHCR began assisting refugees, who fled the 1998-2000 border war with Ethiopia, to return home. The refugee agency says that since July 2000, 103,000 Eritreans have gone home, mostly to western Eritrea.

In December 2002, UNHCR ended refugee status for Eritreans as the situation at home had stabilised. But the agency and the Sudanese government are continuing to interview individual asylum seekers on a case-by-case basis.