Ethiopia Hosts 206,000 Somali, Sudanese RefugeesAt least 206,000 refugees mainly from Somalia and the Sudan are currently staying in Ethiopia, according to a senior Ethiopian official.Kongit Sinegiorgis, representative of the Ethiopian government, said on Thursday that Ethiopia is also engaged in assisting about 400,000 internally displaced persons and about 139,000 Somali refugees. "Ethiopia has a plan to repatriate 60,000 Somali refugees to Northwest of Somalia and so far 5,462 have been repatriated," said Kongit in a statement delivered at the 26th ordinary session of the Organization of African Unity Coordinating Committee on assistance and protection of refugees and internally displaced persons in Africa. Ethiopia last year repatriated 4,855 Kenyan refugees, and there are a small number of Djibouti refugees in Ethiopia, according to Kongit. She called on the African countries to eradicate the root causes to create refugees, and help build a more "dynamic African society characterized by the rule of law, tolerance and democracy". However, Kongit said, the fund allocated for refugees in Africa is reportedly decreasing from time to time, and the situation of the year 2000 and 2001 in particular is the worst ever recorded since 1990. |
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