Half million refugees from southern Sudan to be repatriated

KHARTOUM, Jan 11 (AFP) — Sudan’s foreign ministry said Tuesday it has finalised arrangements with the UN refugee agency for the return of some 500,000 southern Sudanese refugees from neighbouring countries.

Sudanese refugees arriving at Kyangwali settlement in Uganda after being displaced from their original camp in Achol. (UNHRC).

The foreign minister of state, Naguib al-Khair Abdel Wahab, told AFP the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees expected the repatriation process to be completed within six months.

UNHCR official Erick Morris said at a meeting in Khartoum on Monday that the agency would provide 100 million dollars in addition to funds expected to be earmarked by an Olso donor conference in late February, Abdel Wahab said.

Southern rebels and the Khartoum government signed a peace treaty on Sunday, ending 21 devastating years of war that claimed at least 1.5 million lives and displaced another four million people.

The voluntary repatriations are to take place from Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Central African Republic and Zaire, while another 30,000 refugees are to be repatriated from Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia.

Abdel Wahab said that south Sudanese refugees around the world were estimated by the UNHCR to total one million. The remaining refugees would be repatriated in subsequent phases.