Deadline passes for ending refugee status

With the deadline for the cessation of refugee status for Eritreans expiring on 31 December, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says thousands are seeking continued refugee status, while others have asked to be taken home or have applied to remain as immigrants. Neighbouring Sudan hosts the largest number of refugees, and the number of Eritreans seeking interviews to determine their need for continued protection more than doubled in the two weeks before the deadline, UNHCR said. "There has been a pick-up in registration for refugee status determination these last several weeks," said Ahmed Said Farah, UNHCR's representative in Sudan. Some 100,000 Eritreans have approached screening teams in the country. "The mass information campaign to inform the Eritrean refugees of their options is active, and registration centres are open daily," Farah said. UNHCR said Eritrean refugees were also asking to join repatriation convoys from Sudan, which are due to resume on Sunday after a six-month gap due to heavy rains and tension in Sudan's border region with Eritrea. More than 20,000 people have so far registered to return home once the convoys resume. A total of 103,000 refugees, out of over 320,000 in Sudan, have returned since May 2001. Last May, UNHCR announced that the group refugee status for Eritreans who fled their country as a result of the independence war or the recent border conflict with Ethiopia would end on 31 December 2002. It said the root causes of the Eritrean refugee problem no longer existed. "Those Eritreans found to be still in need of international protection after undergoing individual screening will be able to remain in their current host country as refugees," UNHCR added. "Those who do not qualify for asylum after 2002 but who do not wish to return home because of strong family, social or economic links with the host country will be expected to legalise their stay in Sudan, or the other countries where they currently reside," it said. A further 5,000 Eritrean refugees are registered in Ethiopia, Yemen and Kenya.