UNHCR launches last phase of Somali repatriation from Djibouti
The UN refugee agency on Tuesday began the final phase of its voluntary repatriation programme to help some 1,800 refugees return home to Somaliland from neighbouring Djibouti by the end of the year.
LOYADO, Djibouti, November 20 (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency on Tuesday began the final phase of its voluntary repatriation programme to help some 1,800 refugees return home to Somaliland from neighbouring Djibouti by the end of the year.
A convoy of 13 UNHCR-hired trucks carrying 210 Somaliland refugees set off early Tuesday from Djibouti's Ali Addeh camp and headed the 130 kilometres to the Loyado crossing point on the border with Somaliland, a de facto republic within the internationally recognized borders of Somalia.
"This is the final leg of what has been a long exile for many of the Somaliland refugees in Djibouti and we are happy that we are able to help refugees close this chapter of their lives in exile," Ann Encontre, UNHCR's representative in Djibouti, said at Loyado. She added that the repatriation operation, which began in July 2002, would be wrapped up next month.
The 1,800 refugees are one of the last groups of Somaliland refugees living in Djibouti. Many of the returnees fled to Djibouti more than 16 years ago after the collapse of the Siad Barre regime in 1991 and ensuing civil war in Somalia.
The return programme from Djibouti to Somaliland was suspended in March last year to allow for the electronic registration of all refugees in Djibouti. When the suspension took place, the UNHCR operation had helped some 19,400 Somali refugees return home.
Encontre said that once UNHCR officials had completed immigration formalities at the border, the convoy would head to a transit centre in Zeila town, located some 27 kms from the border in Somaliland's Awdal region. "When we arrived at the border, some of them got off the trucks and knelt down to say their prayers," the UNHCR official noted.
Returnees will receive a return package before continuing their journey Wednesday to their homes. As part of the return package, each returnee will be given the first of three instalments of a nine-month food package provided by the UN World Food Programme. The food package is designed to support returnees during the initial months of their re-integration.
UNHCR will provide some household goods to families, including kitchen sets, blankets, sleeping mats, jerry cans and plastic sheeting for shelters. In addition, returnees will receive some cash to help them pay for transportation from the various drop-off points, mainly in towns, to their home villages.
The majority of the refugees in Djibouti will return to the Awdal Region, where UNHCR and other partners have set up a wide variety of reintegration projects ranging from water, education, income generation, road infrastructure, health and security. These projects have already supported the integration of thousands of returnees from Djibouti and Ethiopia.
"We will work with the authorities to find alternative solutions to refugees from Somaliland who opt to remain in Djibouti," Encontre said of an estimated 1,000 refugees who have not yet registered for return to Somaliland and are likely to remain in Djibouti when the repatriation operation ends.
Since July 2002, the UN refugee agency has been promoting repatriation to Somaliland. UNHCR-sponsored "go-and-see" visits allowed refugees to assess for themselves conditions back home, and spread the word around the Djibouti camps.
Between February 1997 and March 2006, an estimated 300,000 Somaliland refugees have returned home from Ethiopia and Djibouti using their own means as well as through UNHCR's assisted voluntary repatriation.
Djibouti currently hosts nearly 7,000 refugees, mainly living in the Ali Addeh camp. Some 2,800 of these refugees are from Somaliland while more than 3,500 others are from south and central Somalia. There are also small numbers of refugees from Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Encontre said her office continues to report a small but steady influx of Somali refugees fleeing the conflict in south and central Somalia. In the past two months, some 250 refugees have sought asylum in this Horn of Africa country.
Related news and stories
Thousands of newly arrived Somali refugees in Ethiopia relocated to new settlement
Samira's Story
Drought brings life-threatening food shortages for refugees in Ethiopia
100,000 new Somali refugees arrive in Ethiopia in the past month, UN and partners are calling for urgent funding
UNHCR teams and partners rush assistance to some 100,000 newly arrived Somali refugees in hard-to-reach area of Ethiopia
As the Horn of Africa drought enters a sixth failed rainy season, UNHCR calls for urgent assistance
Your search for « somaliland » matched 428 results. Displaying page 19 of 48 pages.
-
UNHCR calls on governments to strengthen protection for Somali refugees
11 May 2010 ... Furthermore, we consider that an internal flight alternative in Somaliland or Puntland is generally not available for any Somali not originating from these territories. Although most asylum countries ...... -
UNHCR Operation in Somalia Fact Sheet, January 2012
17 Feb 2012 ... Year Total Departures Somalis Non Somalis 2010 53,487 18,873 34,614 2011 103,154 27,350 75,804 2012 10,487 1,997 8,490 Population of concern IDPs Asylum Seekers Refugees Total Somaliland 84,000 1,865 ...... -
UNHCR Global Appeal 2015 Update - Somalia
1 Dec 2014 ... ... of whom are Ethiopians residing mainly in Somaliland and Puntland for whom return is not yet ... in Djibouti are expected to return to Somaliland; and internally displaced Somalis, the ...... -
Yemen receives over 10,000 new arrivals by sea since start of conflict, many tricked that fighting is over
14 Jul 2015 ... Mass information campaigns are planned for Puntland and Somaliland and other points of departure to discourage crossings. At the same time, over 51,000 people have fled Yemen for Djibouti, Somalia, ...... -
Assistance to refugees, returnees and displaced persons in Africa: Report of the Secretary-General
31 Aug 2004 ... United Nations A/59/317 General Assembly Distr.: General 31 August 2004 Original: English 04-47542 (E) 071004 *0447542* Fifty-ninth session Item 102 of the provisional agenda* Report of the United ...... -
UNHCR warns of growing climate-related displacement in Somalia
4 Jun 2019 ... More than 7,000 people were displaced last month alone. Three main regions of Somalia - South Central, Puntland and Somaliland – have been affected, despite marginal to average rains and flash ...... -
Ethiopia: Somali refugees to be relocated away from border
13 Jul 2007 ... The camp was officially closed in 2001 after all the refugees returned, mainly to the self -declared republic of Somaliland. After arriving at Teferi Ber, the refugees will spend three days in a ...... -
Somalia: call for increase in support for UN programmes
30 Jan 2004 ... The UNHCR mission emphasised that there is now a particular window of opportunity to promote the return of up to 30,000 refugees to Somaliland and Puntland, in particular from Kenya, Ethiopia, Yemen ...... -
Swiss Forum for Migration and Population Studies (SFM) survey of irregular secondary movements of Somali refugees and asylum-seekers and State responses thereto
18 May 2006 ... ... 1988 in the northern part of the country (Somaliland), and from 1991 in the rest of the country ... Although the region declared its independence in May 1991 as the Republic of Somaliland, its ......