10 August 2010 ,Ethiopia has recently decided to take a new approach to Eritrean refugees by allowing them to live outside camps, a move welcomed by the United Nations refugee agency.
Under the so-called out-of-camp scheme announced last week, Eritreans who can sustain themselves financially or have relatives or friends who commit to supporting them no longer have to stay in camps.
The policy shift is due to discussions between the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Ethiopian Government.
Given the fact that Eritrea and Ethiopia were a single political entity before the 1993 referendum, the new policy is also a response to refugees wishes and needs for strengthened people-to-people relations between the two countries,UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic told reporters in Geneva.
More than 60,000 Eritrean refugees have crossed the border into Ethiopia since the border conflict in the late 1990s between the two countries.
I am really proud of what our Ethiopian brothers and sisters have done. This decision is great. I hope other countries will follow Ethiopias decision to allow refugees to live outside camps.
Your Excellency Prime Minister Melles Zenawi, i am really proud of what you did. As you always say, Governments will pass but not people of the two sisterly countries. We have same religion, same culture, same ancestry and so on.
You are playing a great role and i want to thank you for that on behalf of the Eritrean people, and the Organizations to which i am a member of; Student World Assembly, Amnesty International( Voice Ambassadors), TakingITGlobal, Care2, One.org, World Youth Alliance, African Youth Foundation and others......
Currently i am a Human right Activist and i hope to meet you in person so as to thank you for everything you are doing to our Eritrean brothers and sisters.
Thank you again your Excellency and hope you will continue to help Eritrean refugees.
Thank you
