Some 500 of the 18,000 Sudanese refuges who have been living in the Bonga camp in west Ethiopia's Gambela state, moved to their place of origin on Saturday, said the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

The refugees are returning to their country voluntarily based on a tripartite agreement signed among Ethiopia, Sudan, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), according to a statement from the UNHCR country office.

The remaining refugees, who have been living in Ethiopia for more than 20 years, would be returning to their place of origin step by step.

Some 79,000 southern Sudanese refugees live in five camps in west Ethiopia. Most of the refugees arrived in Ethiopia in 1983 and in the 1990s as a result of the civil war in southern Sudan.

UNHCR, Ethiopia and Sudan signed a tripartite agreement on February 27 paving the way for the repatriation.

Source: Xinhua