UN to begin repatriating 1st group of refugees to South Sudan
Dec 13, 2005 (GENEVA) — The U.N. refugee agency will start repatriating a first group of refugees to their homes in southern Sudan later this week, the organization said Tuesday.
The voluntary, organized repatriation of up to 150 people is the first such return of Sudanese who fled the country during its long-running civil war.
“This is not the opening of the floodgates, but it is a start. It is quite a significant move since some of these people have been out of their country for 20 years,” said Jennifer Pagonis, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
About 560,000 refugees who have been living in refugee camps and settlements in seven neighboring countries are expected to go home after the country’s government and the main southern rebel group signed a comprehensive peace deal in January to end their 21-year war, officials said. Another 4 million displaced people within Sudan are also likely to return in coming years.
UNHCR will supply the first group of returnees, who are currently staying at a camp in northwestern Kenya, with basic household goods to help them survive at home and two weeks’ worth of food.
Some refugees have already gone home without the UNHCR’s assistance, but many are wary about the situation at home. Southern Sudan has always lacked sufficient services, and most of the basic infrastructure was destroyed by decades of war. That situation is not allowing for larger inflows of people quite now, UNHCR said.
“Some areas need to be demined and there is a great lack of infrastructure,” said Pagonis. “So far there is only limited capacity to take people back.”
In February, UNHCR set up a program aimed at improving the living conditions both for returning refugees as well as those residents who never left. Together with other agencies, they are expanding and building new schools and sanitation facilities, repairing roads and water supplies.
UNHCR has also launched information campaigns for potential returnees and organized so-called go-and-see visits to enable returnees to take a more informed decision on whether to return home.
The southern civil war pitted the Arab Muslim-dominated government in Khartoum against rebels fighting for greater autonomy and a larger share of the country’s wealth in the largely African animist and Christian south.
More than 2 million people died during the conflict, mainly from war-induced famine and disease.
(AP/ST)