2,803 Sudanese refugees return from Ethiopia: UNHCR

Addis Ababa, July 19 The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in a report said 2,803 Sudanese refugees have returned from camps in Ethiopia in recent weeks.

In an Ethiopia Emergency Situation Report, the UNHCR on Monday added that the refugees returned to their home country, Sudan, through the Kurmuk border point, in Ethiopia's western Benishangul Gumuz region.

The UNHCR report also said a total of 7,559 Sudanese and 452 South Sudanese refugees have returned to their home countries from camps in Ethiopia since February 2022, Xinhua news agency reported.

Benishangul Gumuz region has in recent years hosted thousands of Sudanese and South Sudanese refugees fleeing conflict in their respective countries.

The UNHCR said separately that 772 Sudanese refugees have returned to their home country in the last two weeks from camps in Ethiopia's southwestern Gambella region, citing recent insecurity in the area for their return.

Ethiopia in June imposed a night curfew in Gambella city, capital of Gambella region. The curfew is still in effect.

The curfew was imposed in the immediate aftermath of a joint attack by Gambella Liberation Army and Oromo Liberation Army rebels that left an unspecified number of combatants and civil dead.

In recent years, deadly clashes between various ethnic groups in the Gambella region have killed scores and displaced thousands. The clashes are mainly over access to power and land resources.

Gambella region has also hosted thousands of South Sudanese refugees fleeing civil war since 2013.

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