South Sudan: 100,000 have now returned

Briefing Notes, 30 January 2007

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 30 January 2007, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The number of Sudanese refugees who have returned home since the launch of voluntary repatriation to South Sudan in 2005 has now surpassed 100,000. The 100,000 mark was reached over the weekend. Airlifts on Friday, in partnership with IOM [International Organization for Migration], from Central African Republic (CAR) to Juba, the capital of South Sudan and a road convoy from Kakuma camp in Kenya to Kapoeta in Eastern Equatoria brought the total number of returns to South Sudan from seven neighbouring countries to 100,574. This also brings the total number of Sudanese refugees assisted to return home by UNHCR to more than 30,000. Repatriation from CAR, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia, are conducted under tripartite agreements and take place by air and by road through various border crossing points.

The returnees are given an aid package of basic household supplies, including blankets, mosquito nets, soap, plastic mats, kitchen sets, jerry cans and sanitary items to help them restart their lives in Sudan. Upon return, they also receive a three- month food ration from WFP [World Food Programme] and seeds and tools from FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization]. All returnees, as well as internally displaced persons and receiving communities, equally benefit from UNHCR community-based reintegration projects focusing on water, health and education in areas of return.

More than 100,000 Sudanese refugees are expected to return home from neighbouring countries in 2007. But this depends on an improved security situation, progress in peace talks between the Lord's Resistance Army and the Government of Uganda, which hosts the largest Sudanese refugee population (156,000), and unforeseen events that can affect returns such as a recent meningitis outbreak in northern Uganda. Movements from northern Uganda have been suspended for several weeks pending the vaccination of potential returnees.

Some of the South Sudan refugees will return with transport organized by UNHCR and other partners from refugee camps or settlements. Under an assisted, self-organised repatriation programme, others will receive return documents (Voluntary Repatriation Form) and a return and reintegration package in the country of asylum and upon arrival in Sudan. Thousands more are expected to return home using their own means in what is commonly referred to as spontaneous repatriation.

We have held a series of cross-border meetings with neighbouring countries to firm up repatriation plans for 2007. This includes establishing new calendars for resumed operations from areas such as north-eastern DRC and opening new return routes such as the Dimma/Gambella (Ethiopia) to Pagak corridor in Upper Nile. Repatriation from Ethiopia will be discussed further at an upcoming Tripartite Commission meeting to be held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, among the governments of Ethiopia, Sudan and UNHCR on Thursday and Friday. An estimated 340,000 Sudanese refugees remain in exile, mainly in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia.

• DONATE NOW • • GET INVOLVED • • STAY INFORMED •

 

Share this story on Facebook

Related Stories

UNHCR country pages

South Sudan: The Long Trip Home

When the peace treaty that ended 21 years of civil war between north and south Sudan was signed in 2005, some 223,000 Sudanese refugees were living in Uganda – the largest group of Sudanese displaced to a neighbouring country.

Despite South Sudan's lack of basic infrastructure, such as schools, hospitals and roads, many Sudanese were eager to go home. In May 2006, the UN refugee agency's Uganda office launched an assisted repatriation programme for Sudanese refugees. The returnees were given a repatriation package, including blankets, sleeping mats, plastic sheets, mosquito nets, water buckets, kitchen sets, jerry cans, soap, seeds and tools, before being transported from the transit centres to their home villages. As of mid-2008, some 60,000 Sudanese living in Uganda had been helped back home.

As of the beginning of May 2008, some 275,000 Sudanese refugees had returned to South Sudan from surrounding countries, including Uganda, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya. Some 125,000 returned with UNHCR assistance.

Posted on 16 July 2008

South Sudan: The Long Trip Home

Chad: Education in Exile

UNHCR joins forces with the Ministry of Education and NGO partners to improve education for Sudanese refugees in Chad.

The ongoing violence in Sudan's western Darfur region has uprooted two million Sudanese inside the country and driven some 230,000 more over the border into 12 refugee camps in eastern Chad.

Although enrolment in the camp schools in Chad is high, attendance is inconsistent. A shortage of qualified teachers and lack of school supplies and furniture make it difficult to keep schools running. In addition, many children are overwhelmed by household chores, while others leave school to work for local Chadian families. Girls' attendance is less regular, especially after marriage, which usually occurs by the age of 12 or 13. For boys and young men, attending school decreases the possibility of recruitment by various armed groups operating in the area.

UNHCR and its partners continue to provide training and salaries for teachers in all 12 refugee camps, ensuring a quality education for refugee children. NGO partners maintain schools and supply uniforms to needy students. And UNICEF is providing books, note pads and stationary. In August 2007 UNHCR, UNICEF and Chad's Ministry of Education joined forces to access and improve the state of education for Sudanese uprooted by conflict in Darfur.

UNHCR's ninemillion campaign aims to provide a healthy and safe learning environment for nine million refugee children by 2010.

Chad: Education in Exile

Crisis in the Central African Republic

Little has been reported about the humanitarian crisis in the northern part of the Central African Republic (CAR), where at least 295,000 people have been forced out of their homes since mid-2005. An estimated 197,000 are internally displaced, while 98,000 have fled to Chad, Cameroon or Sudan. They are the victims of fighting between rebel groups and government forces.

Many of the internally displaced live in the bush close to their villages. They build shelters from hay, grow vegetables and even start bush schools for their children. But access to clean water and health care remains a huge problem. Many children suffer from diarrhoea and malaria but their parents are too scared to take them to hospitals or clinics for treatment.

Cattle herders in northern CAR are menaced by the zaraguina, bandits who kidnap children for ransom. The villagers must sell off their livestock to pay.

Posted on 21 February 2008

Crisis in the Central African Republic

"Experience Darfur" in Trafalgar Square

On June 17, an exhibit dubbed "Experience Darfur," opened on Trafalgar Square, in London. The square was turned into a mock refugee camp for a day to highlight the plight of hundreds of thousands of people displaced by conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

"Experience Darfur"

Londoners are given the chance to see the world through the eyes of refugees. CNN's Sasha Herriman reports.

Refugee Women: A Step Forward

This year International women's day focuses on the economic, social and political achievements of women.Yet each day millions of women around the world struggle to make ends meet. Nowhere is situation more acute than in those countries recovering from conflict. Here's the story of how one group of women is striving for their own economic independence in the hope that one day it will help them return to south Sudan.
Share Vacancies Angelina Internship Stories Statistics