Uganda planning voluntary repatriation of Sudanese refugees

KAMPALA, Feb 3 (AFP) — Uganda said Thursday that it was planning a voluntary repatriation of Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda following the January peace deal signed between Khartoum and southern rebels, a government minister said.

Home beckons for these Sudanese refugees in Uganda.(UNHCR).

“Our government along with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the Sudanese government will have a tripartite plan to have voluntary repatriation of Sudanese refugees living in northern Uganda,” minister responsible for refugees, Christine Amongin, told AFP by phone.

She said a campaign to brief the refugees about the January 9 agreement between the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and the Khartoum government was imminent but did not give a date for the planned repatriation.

According to UNHCR, there are some 200,000 registered Sudanese refugees in Uganda and another 40,000 unregistered living along the Uganda-Sudan border.

The agency said that many refugees were reluctant to return home citing a lack of basic facilities to ease their resettlement and that the peace deal was not all-inclusive.

“When the agreement was signed, the initial reaction was that of joy, but they started raising some concerns that they were not catered for in the agreement,” Roberta Russo, the UNHCR spokeswoman in Kampala said.

“They told us that there were no facilities in the region and that they were not yet sure about their security,” she added.

Russo explained that most of the refugees felt marginalised and that they had no place in the new deal.

In addition, the refugees said that southern Sudan had landmines and that a demining operation ought to begin before they could relocate.

Some refugees have gone back to assess the situation but have since returned to the camps.

According to UNHCR, the refugees are well settled in Uganda and live under better conditions than other refugees elsewhere in Africa.