Chadian refugees begin leaving for home

UNHCR completed on Monday the voluntary repatriation from Cameroon of 288 Chadians who had fled civil war in their country in the early 1980s. The returnees were taken to a transit area in the Chadian border town of Lere pending transportation to their home areas, the head of UNHCR’s liaison office in Cameroon, Marcelin Hepie, told IRIN on Wednesday. Upon arrival, each refugee received five months’ food rations provided by the UN World Food Programme, along with non-food items such as mats, blankets and soap. The returnees were among 500 Chadians in Douala, Cameroon’s economic capital, who had registered for repatriation, Hepie said. The decision by the others to remain behind can be attributed to several factors such as Chad’s current sociopolitical situation and heavy rains in Douala, which could have prevented them from getting to the departure point, according to the UN official. The future of the 212 who stayed behind is uncertain as UNHCR does not plan to repatriate them, he said. Monday’s repatriation was the first part of a two-phased operation to relocate about 1,000 to Chad. Under Phase Two, 500 refugees from the greater Yaounde area are to be transported on 30-31 July. This month’s operation will mark the end of a voluntary repatriation campaign which started last year and targeted just over 5,000 Chadians, of whom 4,053 were resettled in 2000. Hepie said some 40,000 Chadian refugees still live in Cameroon. The UN agency would have liked to resettle more of them, but the US $182,000 allocated could only cater for the targeted 1,000, he said.