Over 43,000 southerners still stranded in Sudanese towns: IOM

July 16, 2013 (JUBA) – Over 900 people previously stranded in the border town of Renk in Upper Nile arrived in the South Sudan capital on Monday after a two-week barge trip, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.

The returnees were welcomed at Juba Port by family members, friends and officials from IOM, the Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management ministry and South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (SSRRC).

South Sudan’s Humanitarian Affairs minister, while welcoming the returnees, acknowledged that his government requires continued support from partners to help those stranded return to locations of their choice.

According to IOM, over 43,000 people were still stranded in settlements within Khartoum and Kosti towns, living under difficult conditions.

“It is our hope that all South Sudanese people who are stranded and wish to move to other locations can be assisted,” said Joseph Lual Acuil.

“We cannot do this without our humanitarian partners, and without the support of the donors,” he added.

The returnees, IOM said in a statement, were registered upon arrival in Juba and will now be transported by road to destinations of their choice. According to IOM, most of them prefer settling in the Greater Bahr el Ghazal and Greater Equatoria regions.

“On their two week journey in four barges, a small number of returnees disembarked along the way in locations as Melut, Malakal, Shambe and Bor,” partly reads the IOM statement extended to Sudan Tribune.

Meanwhile, IOM says it has provided assistance to over transport over 5,000 returnees to their final destinations this year alone.

(ST)