Ethiopia says 17,000 Sudanese refugees returned home
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January 30, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – Some 17,000 Sudanese refugees recently
returned to their homeland in Blue Nile state, announced the Ethiopian
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Hailemariam
Desalegn on Monday.
Fighting broke out between the Sudanese army and the Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement – North (SPLM-N) in Blue Nile state on the first
day of September 2011, as a direct result of clashes with Khartoum in
South Kordofan state which began in June of last year.
In a speech reported by the national news agency at the launch of
International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) report for 2011 in
the Ethiopian capital, Hailemariam said his country received some
35,000 Sudanese refugees who fled the violence.
However he said that 17,000 Sudanese have now voluntarily returned to
their homeland, stressing that Ethiopia is pursuing a policy of
receiving immigrants that are coming to its land and providing care
until their problems are resolved.
The Sudanese army in November retook the control of all the big towns
and inhabited areas in Blue Nile from the SPLM-N fighters. With the
seizure of Kurmuk, the main rebel stronghold town in the state, the
group now controls small areas at the border with South Sudan.
Ethiopia who leads the Intergovernmental Authority on Development
(IGAD) regional organisation tried to mediate the government and the
rebel group but failed to reconcile the positions of the two parties.
The fight between Khartoum and the SPLM-N, who have historical
relations with Juba’s ruling party, might ignite armed conflict with
the newly independent South Sudan, as the latter also has differences
with Sudan.
The continued fighting between Sudan and the SPLM-N particularly in
the South Kordofan state pushed the international community to predict
a new humanitarian crisis in the region as the UN officials say over
500,000 refugees are expected to flee the region.
(ST)
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