19000 IDPs return to their areas in South Kordofan
June 5, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – Some 19,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have returned to their areas of origin in South Kordofan, two months after being forced to flee their town and villages when the Sudanese rebels captured it last April.
Citing the government controlled South Kordofan Voluntary Return and Resettlement Commission (VRRC), the UN humanitarian office OCHA said that 5,460 people returned to Abu Kershola and 3,116 to Um Berimbita in South Kordofan; 2,470 to Sidrah and 7,672 to villages near El Rahad and El Obeid in North Kordofan.
Before to take the control of Abu Kershola on the border between the two states; the rebels crossed from South Kordofan to North Kordofan attacking Um Ruwaba and other villages in North Kordofan.
El Rahad town hosted over 30 thousand affected people since the seizure of Abu Kershola by the Sudanese Revolutionary Front on 27 April. The Sudan Armed Forces recaptured it on 27 May.
The total number of IDPs reached 63,000 people.
Around 8,000 arrived in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, 10,800 people to Dibeakir (Al Qoz locality), Um Berimbita and Tandik areas (Rashad locality) in South Kordofan and the others headed to Umm Ruwaba and El Obeid towns in North Kordofan.
The VRRC said preparing the return of the first group of 745 IPDs from Khartoum to Abu Kershola.
On the other hand, the UNHCR announced that it has completed the construction of 350 transitional shelters, adding it was the first batch of 760 shelters to be constructed in Kadugli and surrounding areas.
These shelters will be allocated to 4500 people, mainly from vulnerable groups and returnees.
HCR which works on this project in cooperation with the Sudanese government humanitarian body HAC, said material is received to construct further transitional shelters in other areas in South Kordofan.
The Sudanese government refuses to open camps for IDPs in South Kordofan arguing that they want to avoid a repetition of Darfur camps which were politicised and used by the rebels to echo their massage to the international community, the government says.
The government and the SPLM-N failed to implement different humanitarian agreements aiming to reach civilians affected by the conflict in the rebel held areas. Khartoum insists that it should supervise through its humanitarian agency the operation, but the rebels refuse saying the HAC is infiltrated by the security service.
(ST)