Furthermore, the initial assistance package for one year (The relief-and-rehabilitation-package includes a one-time rehabilitation and reintegration allowance of ETB 1000 (US$84.50) per family head, plus ETB 500 for the spouse and ETB 100 for each child. Many, especially children, had never been to Ethiopia. Īs some people had lived for extensive periods in Eritrea, their return and integration became more delicate. The town's medical infrastructure is stretched beyond its limits and house rents increased in 1998 with the first influx of IDPs and have remained above pre-war levels.
For 1,000 children from Zala Ambessa the only schooling opportunity is to pay to go to night school. First the IDP influx and then the people from Eritrea were and still are a heavy burden to the town's social infrastructure. Although local authorities attempt to motivate returning Ethiopian nationals to establish themselves in rural areas, many came back from their original settlements to Adigrat. In Adigrat town and its vicinity, first some 10,000 IDPs from war-affected border areas and progressively a total of some 37,000 people from Eritrea were added on top of the total population of approximately 50,000. Some communities increased substantially during the border conflict, further exacerbating their own recovery difficulties. In fact, most people returning from Eritrea found themselves sooner or later in urban centres. Of the registered people that returned from Eritrea in the eastern zone, most are concentrated in Adigrat town and its vicinity, according to regional authorities. These people have been sent to the three administrative zones in Tigray as follows: eastern zone 37,050, central zone 20,183, western zone 5,009 (Buffoni & Tadesse, 2001: p.37/38).
Out of this total, approximately 70,000 to 75,000 are members of families originating from Tigray that have been sent to locations in the three different northern zones between September 1998 and September 2001 and of these the zonal DPPDs compiled a total of 62,242 people that were officially registered in the various transit centres that existed upon their arrival from Eritrea. Between May 1998 and August 2001, approximately 95,000 Ethiopian nationals that were living in Eritrea returned to Ethiopia. Since the start of the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea in May 1998, nationals of both countries had to return to their places of origin. In addition to information contained in ZZZ37516.E of 26 September 2001 on repatriations from Ethiopia and Eritrea, the following information is excerpted from the UNDP Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia "Current situation and progress of humanitarian assistance to vulnerable population segments affected by the border conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray Region, Assessment Mission: 21 - 30 January 2002."Ģ.2 Assistance to Ethiopian nationals returned from Eritrea to be revised and Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content.
Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, CanadaĬanada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Eritrea/Ethiopia: Update to ETH35052.E of 22 September 2000 on repatriation from Eritrea to Ethiopia and vice versa, and whether persons who were deported from Eritrea to Ethiopia and vice versa, because of their ethnicity, during the border war (May 1998/June 2000) can repatriate and live normal lives, 27 February 2002, ZZZ38398.E, available at: Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada