A UN agency recalled on November 3 its staff who were deployed to repatriate 4,700 Kenyan refugees in Ethiopia after receiving a request of the Kenyan government.

The country office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was informed by the government that the repatriation operation, originally scheduled for Tuesday, should be suspended due to security concerns and clan conflicts in the refugees' area of return.

The UN agency will make new arrangements to assist the refugees who had dismantled their shelters at refugee camps in Ethiopia, according to a news release by the agency.

Meanwhile, the agency will remain in close contact with the Kenyan government for advice on the re-start of the repatriation of the refugees.

The refugees sought asylum in neighboring Ethiopia in May 1993 after Kenya's first multi-party elections in December 1992 provoked hostilities between the Somali Degodia and Ajuran clans in northern Kenya.