UNHCR Chief visits southern Sudan
By Jonah Fisher, BBC News, Sudan
Aug 27, 2005 (Khartoum) — The UN’s refugee chief, Antonio Guterres is in southern Sudan to assess the after-effects of the civil war.
More than four million Sudanese were displaced during the 21-year-long war between the Muslim north and Christian animists in the south.
With the signing of a peace deal in January, preparations are now being made for people to return home.
The former Portuguese prime minister is halfway through a 10-day trip to Sudan and refugee camps in Chad and Kenya.
New hope
Mr Guterres arrived in Juba, the capital of the south, on a plane from Darfur in Sudan’s west.
Having spent time with some of Darfur’s two million displaced, Mr Guterres declared that it still was not safe enough for them to go back to their villages.
In the south of Africa’s largest country, the situation is different.
A peace deal has ended two decades of war and plans are now being made for development and the return of displaced people.
Most of them are displaced within Sudan, but there are sizeable refugee populations in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia.
The life the refugees return to will not be easy. With few roads, schools or hospitals, southern Sudan is one of the poorest places on earth.
More than 4.5 million southerners fled their homes