UN resumes repatriation of Sudanese refugees in Uganda
Oct 25, 2006 (KAMPALA) — The UN refugee agency has resumed repatriation of Sudanese refugees from Uganda after temporary suspension following the killing of 29 civilians in southern Sudan by armed attackers, a UN officer said here on Wednesday.
Roberta Russo, the external relations officer at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Uganda, confirmed to Xinhua that the repatriation exercise resumed on Tuesday.
“On Tuesday, we repatriated 185 Sudanese refugees from Uganda to Kajo-Keji in southern Sudan. The situation is now under control and the government of southern Sudan re-opened the border,” she said.
Plans to return 180 refugees to southern Sudan in a convoy of vehicles were abandoned on Friday after gunmen killed at least 29 civilians in several ambushes on the roads outside of southern Sudanese capital of Juba last Wednesday.
The Ugandan army last Thursday halted all the traffic going to southern Sudan following the violent attacks. South Sudanese government had arrested 15 Sudanese soldiers in connection with the attacks.
UNHCR has repatriated 14,000 refugees to southern Sudan since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005, which ended the two decade civil war between the Sudanese government and former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army.
(Xinhua)