Almost 1,000 refugees return home

A convoy carrying 932 refugees left Lafa refugee camp in Kassala on Saturday as UNHCR began the process of repatriating Eritrean refugees living in camps in Kassala and al-Qadarif [Gedaref] states in eastern Sudan. The refugee agency is to initially target ‘new’ refugees, who fled the serious fighting between Ethiopia and Eritrea in May-June last year. Over 17,000 refugees have registered for voluntary repatriation since UNHCR started its latest registration exercise two weeks ago, the agency stated. It plans to run two convoys a week until July, when seasonal heavy rains are expected to slow the operation. Convoys carrying returnees and their belongings will be escorted from the camps in Sudan to a reception center in Teseney, Gash-Barka, western Eritrea, where the refugees will be registered and provided with documentation by the Eritrean government, UNHCR said. From Teseney, returnees will either go directly home or pass through transit centers in Hagaz and Barentu; returning refugees would be free to choose their final destinations within Eritrea and would go to existing communities (since no new settlements were envisioned), it added. A target figure of 62,000 voluntary repatriationss has been set for this year, and the repatriation of some 160,000 of 174,000 Eritrean refugees remaining in Sudan is due to be completed by the end of next year. [See SUDAN-ERITREA: Refugee repatriation gets underway]