CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Repatriation of Sudanese refugees to begin shortly, UNHCR says

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

BANGUI, 12 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - Tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees in the Central African Republic (CAR) will be repatriated towards the end of October or in November, the country representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Bruno Geddo, said on Tuesday.

"There are currently 20,000 Sudanese refugees in the CAR and the UNHCR office is still making the list of those who are willing to go back home," he said at a news conference in the capital, Bangui.

He said the date on which the repatriation would begin depended on the signing of a tripartite agreement by the CAR, Sudan and the UNHCR.

"The Sudanese authority in charge of signing the accord is not appointed yet but on the CAR side the authorities are ready to sign the agreement with the UNHCR about the repatriation," he said.

Geddo said the repatriation would start from Mboki, a refugee camp for the Sudanese in eastern CAR, where about 9,000 refugees have already volunteered to return home.

"After the return of refugees in Mboki, we will deal with the others scattered throughout the country," he said.

Geddo also said the Sudanese refugees would be flown home because land repatriation was costly.

Up to 36,000 Sudanese refugees were registered in the CAR when fighting broke out in southern Sudan in 1990. Although many later returned home, many others settled in the CAR.

UNHCR officials said some of the refugees were settled in CAR's mining areas while others were engaged in business. Some are settled in Kaga-Bandoro, where a camp was set up for them and even more were living in Bangui.

Regarding the repatriation of Chadian refugees that began on 20 September, Geddo said all those who had volunteered to return home had left the country but that there were still between 400 and 600 others who had remained for personal or security reasons.

He said there were also those who had decided to stay in the CAR but could leave any time if they volunteer to return to Chad.

Geddo said 1,374 people, representing 399 families, were repatriated to Chad during the operation.

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