REPATRIATION OF 150,000 SUDANESE REFUGEES FROM ETHIOPIA - THE MANIPULATION OF CIVILIANS IN A SITUATION OF CIVIL CONFLICT

This paper outlines the dramatic return to Sudan of 150,000 men, women and children from Itang Refugee Camp in Ethiopia in June 1991. These people were pawns in Sudan's civil war, manipulated by governments, mi litary forces and the media - a state of affairs that the internationa l community failed to deal with effectively. At the time of the return to Sudan, ICRC and the United Nations were working to assist the retu rnees in two different areas and each had a different access agreement and thus a different impact on the survival of the returnees. The pap er focuses on the role of political awareness and negotiation in the p rotection of refugees and in the organisation of relief in the context of a civil war.