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 14 of 48 pages.
-
UNHCR Somalia Briefing Sheet, November 2011
28 Nov 2011 ... ... of Somaliland and Puntland, with the overwhelming majority of the refugees and asylum seekers (approximately 70% of the refugees and 90% of the asylum seekers) being hosted in Somaliland and ...... -
UNHCR Global Appeal 2003 - East and Horn of Africa Regional Overview
1 Dec 2002 ... In the mean- time, the voluntary repatriation to Northwest Somalia (“Somaliland”) continues unabated. Since the beginning of this year some 29,000 people were returned to “Somaliland” from ...... -
UNHCR Global Appeal 2002 - East and Horn of Africa Regional Overview
1 Dec 2001 ... Re c e n t D e ve l o p m e n t s These countries maintained a measure of stability in their relations in 2001 and con- tinued to make significant progress towards the resolution of inter-state ...... -
UNHCR Strategy for the Institutionalisation of Cash-Based Interventions 2016-2020
Dec 2016 ... in Mohammed Mooge settlement, Hargesia, Somaliland (northern Somalia) in which mainly women ... Voluntary repatriation to Somaliland (northern Somalia) from Aisha refugee camp in Ethiopia. ...... -
UNHCR Country Operations Plan 2006 - Djibouti
1 Sep 2005 ... ... that Djibouti has hosted around 30 000 refugees, most of them from Somaliland, over the past decade. ... Since 2002, the progressively stable and conducive conditions in parts of Somalia (namely Somaliland...... -
Refugee Protection and Mixed-Migration: The 10-Point Plan in Action: Chapter 1 Cooperation among key partners. Annex 7 - Regional Conference on "Refugee Protection and International Migration in the Gulf of Aden", Sana'a, Yemen, 19 - 20 May, concept note of April 2008
1 Jun 2009 ... Djibouti, Somaliland and Puntland have all been major departure areas though, in recent years, the ... from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia (including Somaliland and Puntland), Yemen, Saudi Arabia and other ...... -
Refugee Protection and Mixed-Migration: The 10-Point Plan in Action: General Reference 7 - UNHCR, Regional Conference on "Refugee Protection and International Migration in the Gulf of Aden", Sana'a, Yemen, 19-20 May 2008
1 Jun 2009 ... Djibouti, Somaliland and Puntland have all been major departure areas though, in recent years, the ... from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia (including Somaliland and Puntland), Yemen, Saudi Arabia and other ...... -
Creating humanitarian space: a case study of Somalia. Erik Abild
15 Dec 2009 ... ... note on methodology; It was while staying in Somaliland, in 2008, that I first read about Afgooye ... and Puntland), the British protectorate Somaliland, the French Colony Djibouti, the North ...... -
UNHCR Somalia Briefing Sheet, December 2011
1 Dec 2011 ... ... of Somaliland and Puntland, with the overwhelming majority of the refugees and asylum seekers (approximately 70% of the refugees and 90% of the asylum seekers) being hosted in Somaliland and ......