Sudanese refugees linger in Kenya with mixed feelings for going home

NAIROBI, July 23, 2005 (Xinhua) — The Sudanese can be seen almost everywhere, in the estates, making merry in nightspots, in the streets or hovering around offices in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

Jubilant Sudanese youth in traditional attire sing and dance during the signing of a final peace accord beteween the Sudanese government and the rebel SPLM/A in Nairobi, Jan 9, 2004.(AFP).

Despite being a minority group the Sudanese have managed to dominate many of the urban and semi urban estates in Nairobi.

Kenyatta Avenue in Nairobi is a favorite spot for the Sudanese.

They are conspicuous, especially men who can be seen hurdled in groups of four or more and once in a while, women and girls can also be seen chatting with the men. Every morning, a group of them will converge near a cafe, some dressed formally while others are in casual wear, to discuss matters affecting them.

“This is where we get information from home (Sudan). Any Sudanese who needs to know what is happening back home, comes here, ” said 30-year-old Peter Lasu.

Sudanese refugees in Kenya have received news of the landmark January peace agreement for their country with mixed reactions, with some eager to go back home while others reluctant to leave a country they have come to think of as home and move to one they hardly know.

Their country is not only the largest in Africa, it is also endowed with abundant natural resources. Anyone should be proud to be a part of it.

But that is not the case for many Sudanese who have lived in Kenya for the better part of their lives.

A large number of Sudanese have enrolled in Kenyan schools and universities. Many of them have also taken advantage of the free primary school education.

In Kakuma, which has the largest concentration of Sudanese refugees in the east African nation, there are over 20 primary schools and more than three secondary schools.

On January 10, 2005, the Sudanese witnessed the signing of a peace agreement after many years of war.

It was a day that Sudanese living in Kenya had awaited for a long time, but many viewed it with trepidation.

“When the agreement was signed, the initial reaction was that of joy among the refugees. But eventually they started raising some concerns that they were not catered for in the agreement,” said an official at the United Nations’ refugees agency UNHCR in Kenya.

“They are eager to go back, but they are considering their political situation and position in southern Sudan,” said the official who sought anonymity.

Twenty-six-year-old Suzanne Kuon cited lack of infrastructure, security in southern Sudan as a major concern, especially health facilities and schools for their children.

“There are no facilities in southern Sudan, and I’m not yet sure about my security. So where do you expect me to start from,” she asked.

However despite the comfort provided by the relative safety of neighboring Kenya, some Sudanese refugees still said they would do everything to return home and start a new life.

“We have a right to a nationality, but we do not have any nationality, there is nothing as painful as being called a refugee in a country, the only one you have known since birth,” said Thorne Kwer, a Sudanese refugee in Nairobi.

Jimmy Garang, another Sudanese refugee in Nairobi, sadly remembered the circumstances under which he found himself in Nairobi and the hard life he has had to endure during his 18 years in Ethiopia and Kenya as a refugee.

“I have no idea what Sudan looks like now, all I know is that we came to Kenya after the fall of our town near the Kenyan border. The situation has been too bad for us but Sudan is our country and we will return soon,” said Garang, now a sales and marketing student here.

About 150,000 Sudanese refugees in Kenya are expected to begin trooping back to the war-shattered vast region to begin afresh their lives which was interrupted by the war.

But Sudanese refugees say they need more freedom and enhanced access to information for Sudan to flourish.

“You cannot get the right information about what is happening in Sudan, the international news organizations which visit Sudan never get to unearth what goes on there,” Jimmy Garang noted.

“The situation in Sudan during the war was devastating. Some died of the war, hunger and disease. There is no access to the media and people may not know what is going on. The media have no access to the true situation in that country,” Garang said.

However, the UNHCR says an enormous amount of work will have to be done before thousands of Sudanese refugees in Kenya are able to return home and begin rebuilding their lives.

UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner Wendy Chamberlin said during her recent tour of southern Sudan that health centers will have to be rebuilt and roads will have to be demined before refugees, some of whom have lived in exile for more than 35 years, can return home.