Sudanese refugees want security before returning home: UN

KHARTOUM, March 17 (AFP) — Sudanese refugees in neighboring African states are hesitant to return home until they can be sure of security after an agreement is sealed to end the 20-year civil war, UN officials said.

Dennis McNamara, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) inspector general, said in a statement that the refugees he met in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya feared militias, other armed groups and landmines.

His mission was part of the UNHCR’s planning for the return of more than 150,000 refugees in the first 18 months after the signing of a peace accord between Khartoum and the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).

Khartoum, representing the Muslim and Arab north, and the SPLA, representing the animist and Christian south, have made dramatic progress during two years of peace negotiations in Naivasha, Kenya.

“We want to go home, but only when we are sure it is really safe on the ground,” one refugee said, according to the UN statement faxed to Khartoum from the UNHCR Nairobi office.

Refugees also stressed the priority they gave to continued education for their children, as well as other basic services including health, water and income-generating activities.

The UNHCR estimates the war has uprooted more than three million people inside Sudan, while a further 600,000 have fled to neighboring countries.