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Somali Refugees to Be Repatriated From Eritrea
Somali refugees will be repatriated from Eritrea on Wednesday for the first time under the arrangement of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a UNHCR statement available said Tuesday in Dar es Salaam.
A total of 57 volunteers will board a UNHCR-chartered aircraft in Asmara, capital of Eritrea, for a flight to the Somali capital Mogadishu.
The 25 families registered to take Wednesday's flight are among 1,230 Somali refugees who have asked the UNHCR to help repatriate them, UNHCR spokesperson Kris Janowski was quoted as saying in Geneva Tuesday.
Before leaving Eritrea, each returnee will receive a cash grant to aid their re-integration in Somalia, Janowski said, adding that authorities in the Somali Transitional National Government have given UNHCR clearance and pledged cooperation for the operation.
"The repatriation from Eritrea is the second to Mogadishu this year, illustrating the growing interest among Somali exiles to repatriate since the installation of the temporary government," he said.
The UNHCR at present cares for 281,423 Somali refugees in the Horn of African region with about 137,000 in Kenya and over 3,000 in Tanzania.
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