After six to seven years of exile in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), hundreds of Central Africans have returned to home, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced on Friday.

Axar.az reports citing Anadolu Agency.

Most of the Central African refugees had to flee their country to seek refuge in DRC over violence in the Central African Republic (CAR), the UNHCR said in a statement.

The UNHCR helped hundreds of refugees to voluntarily return home "launching the first-ever voluntary repatriation program from DRC for around 172,000 people forcibly displaced from CAR since 2013," the statement read.

"Some 400 refugees and their belongings left in a convoy of four trucks and light vehicles from Mole refugee camp to Zongo in Sud Ubangi province, northern DRC. They continued their journey by boat to Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic," the statement added.

According to the UN statement, the voluntary repatriation program has started following a "tripartite agreement signed by UNHCR and the governments of DRC and CAR in July 2019.'' Since then, some 4,000 refugees have registered for the program.