BUCHAREST, Romania: U.N. and Romanian officials say that 97 Sudanese refugees have arrived at a transit center in the western city of Timisoara.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says in a press release Wednesday that most of the 97 refugees came from the Darfur area of western Sudan and settled in Iraq in the 1980s.

After the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, they suffered abuse and assaults at the hands of insurgent groups.

Vasile Dragoi, an official with Romania's Office for Immigration, says that another 42 Sudanese refugees are expected to arrive in Timisoara.

The transit center in Romania is a temporary haven for refugees awaiting resettlement in a third country.