Forty-three Somali refugees flew home on Tuesday in the first organised repatriation from Kenya in two years, choosing to go to the more settled northeast rather than the volatile south and centre, officials said according to Reuters. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) a total of 146,000 Somali refugees are still in Kenya, most of whom cannot go home to central and southern Somalia because of insecurity or shortages of food. Many Somalis fled their country when it plunged into anarchy in 1991 after former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted. Since then hundreds of thousands have died in the conflict. Somalia's Transitional Federal Government, set up at peace talks last year, is the 14th attempt at effective administration in the country of up to 10 million since 1991 but is sharply divided on where its operations should be based. "This is the first repatriation to Somalia to take place ... in two years since some 93 individuals left in 2003 and we hope more refugees will be encouraged to go back to safe parts of Somalia," UNHCR official Toshiro Odashima said. The refugee agency gave each family $170 to assist them during their reintegration as well as basic supplies that included plastic sheeting to cover their shelters, blankets, cooking utensils, sleeping mats and jerry cans. The 43 were flown to Galkayo in northeast Somalia, ending more than a decade in exile. The United Nations says more than 157,000 Somalis have been repatriated from Kenya in the past 10 years.
