Cameroon, CAR, UNHCR Relaunch Process for Voluntary Repatriation of Central African Refugees
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon (CNA) — Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have begun steps to revive the voluntary repatriation of thousands of Central African refugees living in Cameroon after the process was suspended at the end of 2025.
Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, on Monday welcomed CAR’s Minister of Humanitarian Action, Solidarity and National Reconciliation, Josiane Lina Bemaka-Soui, and a UNHCR delegation led by William S. Chemaly, the agency’s new Representative in the Central African Republic, upon their arrival at Yaoundé Nsimalen International Airport.
The delegation is in Cameroon for a high-level meeting scheduled for July 14 at the Hilton Hotel in Yaoundé, where ministers and technical experts are expected to adopt an operational document outlining the practical modalities for the voluntary return of Central African refugees.
The meeting will also bring together the Technical Working Group and the Cameroon-CAR-UNHCR Tripartite Commission, which oversees implementation of the repatriation framework.
The repatriation initiative, launched following a tripartite agreement signed in 2019, aims to facilitate the safe, voluntary and dignified return of Central African refugees residing in Cameroon. Authorities say the process is now set to resume after being temporarily halted late last year.
