Over six hundred Chadians returned home from CAR, UN refugee agency says

Over six hundred out of some 1,500 Chadian refugees who have spent the past two decades in exile in the Central African Republic (CAR) after fleeing civil war in their country have been returned home in an operation that began last week, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

The 609 Chadians were transported in two convoys, according to a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as part of an operation that is expected to be completed by early October.

The most recent convoy was on Sunday, carrying 288 people from Bossangoa, CAR, to Amboko camp in south Chad. From there, UNHCR and its Chadian partners transport the returnees back to their home regions and villages, in some cases temporarily housing them in local schools or other buildings.

As this is the rainy season, some returnees have to make the final leg to their villages on foot, cattle cart or canoe.

From 1999 to 2001, UNHCR helped repatriate thousands of Chadian refugees. Those going back now had decided not to take part in that earlier repatriation operation and to remain in CAR, where they have been self-sustaining.

With the growing insecurity in northern CAR since the end of 2004, the group approached UNHCR to organise their return to Chad. Many of the refugees reported attacks by bandits who stole their cattle and prevented them from working in their fields.

At the same time, UNHCR is looking into reports from local authorities of some 170 refugees who may have crossed the border from northern CAR into Chad two weeks ago after fleeing attacks by armed groups on their villages. It is also continuing the relocation of more than 2,000 other CAR refugees who crossed over for similar reasons in August.

Altogether, there are an estimated 40,000 to 45,000 CAR refugees in southern Chad – at least 10,000 of whom have fled the violence in northern CAR since June. There are another 200,000 refugees from Sudan's Darfur region in eastern Chad.