By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

September 6, 2010 (ADDIS ABABA) – Some 1,458 Eritrean refugees from various camps in Ethiopia were resettled to the United States (US) recently, the Ethiopian State Administration for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA) disclosed.

Last week, a group of 130 Eritrean refugees, after years of exile in Ethiopia, were flown to the US as part of the ongoing resettlement operation. They are among of the 6,800 Eritrean refugees, the US accepted to receive.

Ethiopia’s ARRA, an implementing partner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), had plans to resettle 3,100 Eritrean refugees to a third country for the current Ethiopian year (which ends on 11 September) but has so far managed to resettle less than half of them.

The Ethiopian Administration’s Law and Protection Head, Estifanos Gebremedhin said that “the Ethiopian Government is providing all the necessary assistance to the refugees, due the firm stance it has for peace and its commitment to build positive ties with its neighbors.” He expressed his hope for the day when Eritreans would no longer have to flee their country and would be reunited with loved ones.

The third-country resettlement operation is being carried out by the Ethiopian Government in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the UNHCR.

Since the program began in 2006, 7,280 Eritrean refugees have been resettled in different western countries where they have begun new lives.

Currently there are 51,700 Eritrean refugees in five Ethiopia camps near the border with their homeland. Sudan Tribune learnt that on average, every month 1,800 Eritreans cross border to Ethiopia. 45% of them are members of the Eritrean Defense Force (EDF) and the majority of them are young.

According to the United Nations, the tiny Red Sea nation of Eritrea, with a population of around 5 million, has same the proportion of its citizens as refugees as can only be found in countries at war.

According to a state ARRA report received by Sudan Tribune a few months ago, despite tight border controls, which, according to arrivals in Ethiopia includes a shoot-to-kill policy, last year 11,653 Eritreans made it to Ethiopia. Among these, over 4,000 were soldiers from the EDF.

Reports indicate that, the influx of Eritreans to neighboring countries has sharply increased in the the past few years due to repression, gross human rights violations and forced conscription.

Recently the Ethiopian government reviewed its refugee policy and allowed Eritrean refugees to live outside refugee camps and settlements.

The newly introduced scheme, which came into force after talks between the Ethiopian government and the UNHCR, allows Eritrean refugees residing in camps to live anywhere they chose in Ethiopia, provided that they can sustain themselves financially.

The move was lauded by Eritrean refugees and exiled political groups who said “it opens a new chapter in mending people to people ties between the two countries.”

Ties between Ethiopia and Eritrea remain at tense after the 1998 border war, in which 70,000 people were killed.

(ST)