Refugees returning from Djibouti

Hundreds of Somali refugees have returned from Djibouti to the self-declared republic of Somaliland, northwestern Somalia, as convoys carrying repatriates organised by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) began arriving in their homeland. In a statement issued on Monday, UNHCR said some 220 refugees returned to Somaliland last Friday, bringing the number of returnees from Djibouti since the middle of February to over 430. It said that "over the last 13 years, more than 867,000 Somali refugees have returned to their homeland, including more than 467,000 on convoys and airlifts...". The latest group of returnees left Djibouti's Holl-Holl and Ali Addeh camps, and were met at the Lowya'ado border-crossing by Somaliland authorities and UNHCR workers based in Hargeysa, the region's capital. Each returnee family would receive nine months food rations from the UN World Food Programme, "plus a repatriation grant of $40 per person, as well as blankets, cooking sets sleeping mats tarpaulins and hygiene supplies", said the statement. Some 400,000 Somalis remain in exile, mainly in neighbouring countries, according to the statement. The agency plans to repatriate 35,000 Somalis this year, "while carefully measuring the pace of returns against the country's strained absorption capacity", it said. "Significant obstacles to repatriation remain, as Somalia's long civil war destroyed infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, water and sanitation systems and roads", and with an estimated 80 percent unemployment, 17 percent adult literacy and 14 percent primary school attendance, "the country's needs are huge", UNHCR noted. The UN and NGOs operating in Somalia on 27 February appealed for US $111 million towards funding humanitarian relief and development assistance for the war-affected Somali population this year.