AU delegation in S. Sudan to assess refugees, returnees and IDPs plight
May 24, 2012 (JUBA) – Members of the sub-committee on refugees, returnees and internationally displaced people within the African Union (AU) Permanent Representative Committee (PRC) are currently in South Sudan to assess the conditions in which these people live.
The delegation, in South Sudan from 20-24 May is led by Vivienne Wreh, the Liberian Ambassador to Ethiopia who is accompanied Macrine Mayanja, a senior political officer from the AU Commission division of humanitarian affairs, refugees and displaced persons.
“The main objective of the mission will be to meet with government official and relevant agencies responsible for humanitarian issues, in particular with regards to refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons (IDPs),” the AU said in a statement.
The team will, as part of their mission, reportedly visit transit camps and areas of returnees, refugees and IDPs, where some projects will be identified for the AU to fund. This initiative, it adds, will be done in close cooperation with the government and local African partners.
However, upon their return to Addis Ababa, the AU headquarters, the PRC sub-committee on refugees will be expected to recommend the possible projects for funding based on the assessment findings.
“The African Union will not relent in its support to the efforts of the Republic of South Sudan in finding durable solutions to the problem of continuous humanitarian crisis, so that peace and stability prevail,” further reads the 22 May statement.
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) on Wednesday expressed concern over the massive influx of Sudanese refugees into South Sudan from Blue Nile State, saying the numbers of those crossing the border have increased in the last few days from 1,500 to 10,000.
An estimated 80,000 refugees are reportedly being accommodated in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State.
South Sudan, UNHCR says, is currently hosting close to 150,000, spread across its various states. The majority of these refugees are said to be originating from the Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia and Sudan.
(ST)