Two million refugees return to southern Sudan – UN

February 6, 2008 (JUBA) — United Nations Mission in Sudan said yesterday that about two million refugees have returned to southern Sudan since the signing of the Comprehensive peace Agreement.

UNMIS Regional Coordinator for Southern Sudan, David Gressley, in a press briefing in Juba on 5 February said that that about two million refugees and IDPs had already returned to Southern Sudan, and that 50 per cent of refugees were expected back before the end of the year.

As for returns, the UN planned to support up to 350,000 returnees to Southern Sudan in 2008, both internally displaced persons (IDPS) and refugees from neighbouring countries, Mr. Gressley said.

Gressley further said the UN had supported the region with basic infrastructure, including construction of roads, bridges, airfields, schools and government offices. Some 8,000 kilometres of road had been surveyed and demined, and the Organization planned to open up a further 2,000 kilometres this year.

He also said that the UN continued to support education, observing that more than a million children were now in school. The UN also hoped to provide water to 500,000 people in 2008 and continue to support the capacity of the region’s water department, he said.

1500 RETURNEES FROM KHARTOUM IN JANUARY

The mission also said today that some 1,500 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) returned to their homes in Southern Sudan from camps and settlements in and around Khartoum in January, according to International Organization for Migration (IOM) figures.

The IDPs traveled by land and water to reach destinations in Unity, Warrap and Upper Nile states.

They returned under the Joint Organized Return Plan, which is coordinated and implemented by the Government of National Unity, the Government of Southern Sudan, the UN Mission in Sudan and IOM. To date, the Joint Plan has assisted more than 47,000 IDPs to return to Southern Sudan.

(ST)