ADDIS ABABA, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian government on Thursday disclosed that some 45 camps that have been hosting Internally Displaced People (IDP) were closed as part of the ongoing national repatriation efforts.
The recently terminated 45 IDP camps had been housing more than 66,000 ethnic-conflict affected people, who left their homes following a recent ethnic conflict along the border of Ethiopia's largest Oromia region and Benishangul Gumuz region, state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate (FBC) quoted Oromia region officials as saying on Thursday.
Last week, the Ethiopian government disclosed the voluntary return of some 870,000 IDPs to their areas of origin in different parts of the East African country.
The nationwide repatriation efforts began last month as part of a strategic plan that aimed to address internal displacement across the country.
According to figures from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affair (UNOCHA), there are close to 2.4 million internally displaced people in Ethiopia, many of whom left their homes due to recurrent conflicts.
