50,000 Sudanese return home with UN support from Uganda
April 18, 2008 (PALORINYA, Uganda) – The UN refugee body said 50,000 Sudanese refugees are repatriated with its assistance from Uganda since May 2006.
The five-truck convoy carrying 240 Sudanese left Palorinya refugee camp in northern Uganda’s Moyo District on Friday morning and, after crossing the border, was expected to stop Friday night at a UNHCR way station in Nimule, South Sudan.
“We are really happy that we have been able to help 50,000 Sudanese to return home. Many more Sudanese are waiting for our support to go back to South Sudan and we hope to satisfy their request as soon as possible,” said Stefano Severe, UNHCR representative in Uganda.
The refugees will be transported on Saturday from Nimule to their home villages in Eastern Equatoria state.
The UN refuge agency’s Uganda office launched the assisted repatriation programme in May 2006 and of the 50,000 returnees, almost half (24,000) were helped back home since the beginning of this year.
A further 59,000 Sudanese refugees are believed to have returned home from the northern Uganda districts of Moyo, Arua, Yumbe, and Adjumani without outside help in the past two years.
The rate of return is expected to increase substantially. An average 1,200 refugees are returning from Uganda to South Sudan every week – this figure is expected to rise to more than 3,000 from this month.
(ST)