Long-term refugees volunteering to fight

Meanwhile, the Middle Eastern television station ‘El Gezira’ reported that thousands of Eritrean refugees in Sudan were returning to Eritrea to offer themselves for national service. Humanitarian sources in the region could not confirm the report. Sudan was a vital centre for the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front before the movement won independence for the former Ethiopian province in 1991. Recently, Khartoum has taken steps to improve its relations with Ethiopia. Some 135,000 refugees returned home to Eritrea from Sudan immediately after independence. A further 24,000 were repatriated with the help of UNHCR in 1994-5. A UNHCR spokesman told IRIN that before the latest outbreak of fighting, surveys among the refugee population indicated that many wanted to be repatriated, aware that they would be eligible for military service on their return. A UNHCR repatriation plan had envisaged up to 15,000 refugees returning to Eritrea by September.