The voluntary repatriation of Sudanese refugees from Ethiopia is
due to resume tomorrow, 23 February, with 600 refugees departing by
road for Sudan's Blue Nile State. The operation had been
temporarily put on hold to allow for roads to dry out or be
repaired in the aftermath of the rainy season.

In close coordination with the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Ethiopian government's Administration
for Refugee/Returnee Affairs (ARRA), IOM will be taking the
refugees from the Bonga camp in Ethiopia's Gambella region in the
south west of the country to Chali County in Blue Nile State.
Nearly half of those returning have lived in the camp for more than
15 years.

More than 23,000 Sudanese refugees have been helped to return to
their former homes in Sudan by IOM and its partners since March
2006 with the first departure of 502 Uduk returnees from Bonga
refugee camp to Kurmuk. The returns had been gathering pace before
the onset of the latest rainy season with nearly 1,900 refugees
being repatriated in December 2007 alone.

However, plans by IOM and its partners to assist 27,000 refugees
in 2008 from Bonga, and Dimma, Fugnido and Sherkole camps could be
jeopardized without additional resources, human and financial.

"There is a real desire by the refugees in the camps to go home
and start their lives again. There is clearly a need to scale up
efforts to help them return and keep the momentum going. The target
we and our partners have set for this year is achievable, but only
if sufficient resources are in place," says Charles Kwenin, IOM's
Chief of Mission in Ethiopia.

IOM has been mandated to transport the refugees across the
border and to carry out their pre-departure medical
screening.  In addition to identifying and registering
refugees wanting to return, UNHCR is providing the escort in
partnership with ARRA. The UN's World Food Programme provides
reintegration packages for returnees once they have crossed the
Ethiopian-Sudanese border at Kumruk.

For further information, please contact:

Liyunet Demsis

IOM Ethiopia

Tel: +251 11 551 1673

E-mail: "mailto:dliyunet@iom.int">dliyunet@iom.int