Salva Kiir to visit Sudanese refugees in Kenya

Dec 16, 2005 (NAIROBI) — Sudanese Vice-President Mr Salva Kiir is expected in Kenya over the weekend to urge Sudanese nationals to go back home.

Kiir is expected to fly to Kakuma refugee camp, Turkana District in northern Kenya, on Saturday 17 December to persuade the more than 80,000 Sudanese refugees in the camp to return home.

The tour will coincide with the voluntary deportation of the first batch of more than 5,000 refugees to Sudan.

Speaking to The Standard on Thursday, Turkana District Commissioner Mr Njenga Miiri said some refugees had agreed to go back home this weekend.

He said the government, assisted by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, had given out vehicles to transport them. He said most of the refugees would be headed for Juba and New Site regions.

Cabinet ministers John Munyes, Gideon Konchella and John Koech will receive him.

He said it would be the first time for such a large number of Sudanese to go home since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in Nairobi early this year. He said most Sudanese were reluctant to go home, partly because they were not sure whether the CPA would hold and also for lack of an enabling infrastructure.

“Kiir has decided to visit the camp and speak to them personally, perhaps to assure them that all is well and rally them behind him in a bid to develop the new Sudan,” Miiri said.

Most Sudanese living in Kenya, however, had their hopes shattered after the death of their leader, Dr John Garang. Garang perished in a plane crash while returning to Sudan from Uganda, where he had held a meeting with President Museveni.

(The Standard)