DATE=4/7/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=UNHCR / ERITREA / SUDAN (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261045
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations Refugee Agency, U-N-H-
C-R, says it concluded an agreement Friday with
Eritrea and Sudan to repatriate an estimated 160
thousand refugees now in Sudan. Lisa Schlein has
more from Geneva.
TEXT: The United Nations Refugee Agency says
some of the Eritrean refugees have been in exile
in Sudan for 30 years. U-N-H-C-R spokesman Ron
Redmond says most of the refugees say they want
to go home. He says the agreement recognizes the
right of people to go home, and he says all
returns will be strictly voluntary.
/// REDMOND ACT ///
It also provides for so-called `go-and-see'
visits to Eritrea by refugee
representatives who can then report on
conditions that they saw back inside
Eritrea to those who are still in Sudan.
It also includes provision for U-N-H-C-R's
monitoring role to ensure that the returns
are strictly voluntary and to remain there
monitoring the consequences of the return.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Redmond says none of the refugees will be
returned to areas of conflict. He says no date
yet has been set for the start of the
repatriation operation.
While this long-festering refugee problem is at
the point of being resolved, another refugee
situation is developing. The U-N-H-C-R reports
Sudanese refugees escaping fighting and hunger
are crossing into neighboring Kenya and Uganda in
high numbers. Mr. Redmond says more than 500
people arrived in Lokichokio, in northwest Kenya,
during a single day this week.
/// 2ND REDMOND ACT ///
U-N-H-C-R staff in Lokichokio reported that
the new arrivals are sick, weak and
emaciated. One Sudanese child died on
arrival in Kenya. Additional U-N-H-C-R
staff and medical personnel from the
International Rescue Committee were
dispatched on Tuesday from Kakuma, which is
about 125 kilometers from the border, to
assist with the new arrivals before they
are transferred down to Kakuma.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Redmond says many of the refugees say the
lack of rain had ruined hopes for the next crop.
And they report more refugees are on the way.
Mr. Redmond says greater numbers of Sudanese also
are crossing into neighboring Uganda. He says U-
N-H-C-R staff registered more than 14-hundred new
arrivals last month. (Signed)
NEB/LS/GE/KL
07-Apr-2000 09:41 AM EDT (07-Apr-2000 1341 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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