• Text size Normal size text | Increase text size by 10% | Increase text size by 20% | Increase text size by 30%
  • Also available in French

South Sudan: Refugee repatriation tops 100,000 milestone

Briefing Notes, 28 March 2008

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 28 March 2008, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

More than 100,000 refugees from South Sudan have returned home to restart their lives since UNHCR began its organised repatriation programme in December 2005. The 100,000 milestone was passed this week as the pace of return convoys picked up from countries neighbouring South Sudan to get refugees home ahead of the rainy season in May, and for those who want to return for the national census on 5-30 April.

We are now helping some 4,500 refugees return each week to South Sudan – an increase from 3,000 a fortnight ago. By mid-April that figure is expected to jump to 6,000 returnees a week as we increase transport for returnees from Uganda and Ethiopia.

The largest number of refugees is returning from Uganda, with some 2,700 returnees a week. Most of the convoys from Uganda enter South Sudan through the Nimule corridor – one of the 18 land and air routes we are using to bring refugees back home.

From Kenya , the area that refugees are returning to has been expanded with return flights from Kakuma refugee camp in north-west Kenya now also going to Lakes, Warrab, Unity, Northern and Western Bahr el Ghazal States in Sudan. More than 5,000 refugees have returned from Kakuma this year, with another 2,000 expected to go home in April.

Returns from Ethiopia – which has some 35,000 refugees from South Sudan in three camps – are expected to result in the closure of two camps. Returns resumed at the end of last month and are now running at the rate of 1,200 returnees a week. This should lead to the closure in April of Bonga, a camp of some 2,300 refugees in the Gambella region of western Ethiopia. In Sherkole, further north, most of the 6,800 refugees there have expressed a wish to return to their homes in the Upper Nile region. It is expected they will have returned by the end of May. More than 8,000 refugees from Dimma and Fugnido camps are also expected to return in April and May this year, leading to the closure of Dimma, a camp of some 2,600.

The return movements are being organised in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the German agency GTZ, refugee host governments and the government of Southern Sudan.

In February, UNHCR launched an appeal for US$63 million to fund our 2008 operations in Southern Sudan, including organising the voluntary return and reintegration of Sudanese refugees.

In all, a total of 251,000 refugees have returned to Sudan – 100,000 in organised repatriations and the rest on their own – since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005 that ended 21 years of civil war between the north and the south of the country. Some 260,000 Sudanese refugees remain outside Sudan's borders.

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

 

Related stories by:

UNHCR country pages

Battling the Elements in Chad

More than 180,000 Sudanese refugees have fled violence in Sudan's Darfur region, crossing the border to the remote desert of eastern Chad.

It is one of the most inhospitable environments UNHCR has ever had to work in. Vast distances, extremely poor road conditions, scorching daytime temperatures, sandstorms, the scarcity of vegetation and firewood, and severe shortages of drinkable water have been major challenges since the beginning of the operation. Now, heavy seasonal rains are falling, cutting off the few usable roads, flooding areas where refugees had set up makeshift shelters, and delaying the delivery of relief supplies.

Despite the enormous environmental challenges, UNHCR has so far managed to establish nine camps and relocate the vast majority of the refugees who are willing to move from the volatile border.

Battling the Elements in Chad

Southerners on the move before Sudanese vote

Ahead of South Sudan's landmark January 9, 2011 referendum on independence, tens of thousands of southern Sudanese in the North packed their belongings and made the long trek south. UNHCR set up way stations at key points along the route to provide food and shelter to the travellers during their arduous journey. Several reports of rapes and attacks on travellers reinforced the need for these reception centres, where women, children and people living with disabilities can spend the night. UNHCR has made contingency plans in the event of mass displacement after the vote, including the stockpiling of shelter and basic provisions for up to 50,000 people.

Southerners on the move before Sudanese vote

Chad: Relocation from the Border to Refugee Camps

Since fighting broke out in Sudan's western region of Darfur last year, more than 110,000 Sudanese refugees have fled into Chad. They are scattered along a 600-km stretch of desert borderland under a scorching sun during the day and freezing temperatures during the night.

Access to these refugees in this inhospitable region is difficult. Staff of the UN refugee agency drive for days to locate them. Bombing in the border zone and cross-border raids by militia from Sudan put the refugees at risk and underscore the urgent need to move them to camps in the interior. In addition, the approach of the rainy season in May will make the sandy roads impassable. Aid workers are racing against time in an attempt bring emergency relief to these refugees.

Chad: Relocation from the Border to Refugee Camps

Sudan: A Perilous RoutePlay video

Sudan: A Perilous Route

Kassala camp in eastern Sudan provides shelter to thousands of refugees from Eritrea. Many of them pass through the hands of ruthless and dangerous smugglers.
South Sudan: My VisitPlay video

South Sudan: My Visit

Tens of thousands of people are fleeing violence again in South Sudan.
South Sudan: A Long Journey HomePlay video

South Sudan: A Long Journey Home

Since South Sudan gained independence last July, tens of thousands of people have made their way there from neighbouring. They come by boat and road with everything they can carry or push to a land that many have never visited.