New agreement could see thousands of refugee repatriations

Thousands of Sudanese refugees living in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Congolese refugees living in Sudan could soon be repatriated following the signing of corresponding tripartite agreements between the two governments and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), a spokesman for the agency said. "The first repatriations could take place in March, mainly of Congolese who want to return home," Jens Hesemann said. "The repatriation of Congolese will mainly be made by plane, due to difficult access and in order to circumvent zones where insecurity prevails because of the activities of rebel armies." Some 6,010 Congolese refugees are registered in Sudan and about 13,300 Sudanese are registered in the DRC. The agreements guarantee that the repatriations will be entirely voluntary. The majority of the Congolese refugees fled from villages and towns in the provinces of Equateur and Orientale. Roads leading to these areas pass through areas inhabited by the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and Congolese militia groups. Just one week ago, LRA rebels killed eight Guatemalan peacekeepers from the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC) in the northeastern Garamba National Park. The majority of the Congolese refugees left their country during its last two wars - which raged from 1996 to 1997 and from 1998 to 2002 - and claimed an estimated four million lives. Some Congolese have been in exile in Sudan since the DRC gained independence from Belgium in 1960. UNHCR believes that the repatriation of the Sudanese refugees will only be possible once the security situation improves in their places of origin. "All depends on the conditions in south Sudan, but we will be able to voluntarily repatriate to zones with pockets of security," Hesemann said. The two agreements were signed by Patrick Mayombe, Congolese vice-minister of the interior, decentralisation and security; by Aleu Ayieni Aleu, the Sudanese minister of state; and by Jean-Marie Fakhouri, director of UNHCR operations in Chad and the Sudan.