UN refugee agency plans major effort to register Eritreans in Sudanese cities

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will start a registration programme this week targeting thousands of Eritreans living in Sudanese urban centres who will lose their protected status at the end of this year, a spokesman for the agency announced today.

“The registration in the cities, beginning Thursday, follows UNHCR’s declaration in May that it is ending refugee status for all Eritreans who fled their country as a result of the war of independence or the recent border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea,” Kris Janowski told reporters in Geneva. He said the agency based its decision on the fact that “the root causes of the refugee problem no longer exist.”

Voluntary repatriation from camps in eastern Sudan has been going on over the past two years, with UNHCR helping more than 50,000 Eritreans to return home. Around 90,000 Eritreans are still living in refugee camps in eastern Sudan.

UNHCR is urging Eritreans to join its voluntary repatriation programme before they lose their refugee status on 31 December, but at the same time the agency acknowledges that exemptions are possible. “For exceptional reasons, Eritreans may seek to remain as refugees through legal screening or by a regular status determination in accordance with Sudanese immigration procedures,” said Mr. Janowski.