• Reforms upsurge voluntary repatriation
ADDIS ABABA– Seventy-six Ethiopian refugees have voluntarily returned home from Kenya’s Kakuma camp Wednesday, UNHCR reported from Dire Dawa yesterday.
While the return marks the first major voluntary repatriation program for Ethiopian refugees, the recent developments in the country are likely to surge the repatriation, UNHCR’s press release sent to The Ethiopian Herald.
The movement, supported by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and the Governments of Ethiopia and Kenya, is part of a growing trend of thousands of Ethiopian refugees in the region who are voluntarily choosing to return back to their country, it said.
The majority of those returning originate from Ethiopia’s Somali region and had been living in exile for up 12 years. More than half are women and girls, with some having been born and raised in Kakuma.
UNICEF said the recent return movement was a significant milestone in the quest to provide solutions to one of Africa’s protracted refugee situations as it came following the repatriation made in June 2019 when 94 Ethiopian refugees were assisted to return home from Sudan.
More voluntary return movements from Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps are expected in the coming months, it said, adding more than 10,000 Ethiopian refugees, in regional countries have expressed to UNHCR their intention to return home.
“The surge in numbers follows recent reforms in Ethiopia, which have opened the political space and are widely believed to be improving the country’s respect for human rights and the quality of life for its citizens,” the press release indicated.
The Ethiopian Herald February 21/2020
BY STAFF REPORTER
