Sudan: First returnees from Ethiopia arrive safely in Sudan

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has handed over to Sudanese authorities the first group of 150 refugees returning from Ethiopia. The Bonga refugee camp, from which the initial returns are taking place, was established in January 1993. After the first group has left for home, the population of the camp now stands at 18,154 refugees. 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.