More than 1,700 Ethiopian refugees in Djibouti have been voluntarily repatriated, says UNHCR, following an announcement by the UN agency that “blanket refugee status” was being withdrawn from 1 March for Ethiopians who fled during the Mengistu regime. The regime collapsed in 1991.
Djibouti becomes the first country to complete the voluntary repatriation of pre-1991 Ethiopian refugees. UNHCR said some 51,000 Ethiopians were in camps in eastern Sudan, Kenya, Djibouti and Yemen.
A UNHCR statement said that Ethiopians who choose not to repatriate and do not present a valid claim for continued refugee status would no longer be entitled to international protection. But UNHCR has appealed to host governments to allow Ethiopians who will lose refugee status to stay in the countries and regularise their status, spokesman Kris Janowski said.
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