261,000 Displaced South Sudanese Repatriates From North The United Nations Mission in Sudan, UNMIS, has reported that 261,000 Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, were returned home from Northern Sudan on Tuesday. 01 April 2011 261,000 Displaced South Sudanese Repatriates From North David Gressly briefing the Press at Miraya Hall, Juba [©Gurtong]
By Waakhe Simon Wudu JUBA, 30th March, 2011 [Gurtong] - The United Nations Mission in Sudan, UNMIS, has reported that 261,000 Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, were returned home from Northern Sudan on Tuesday. “The flow of returnees coming down from Northern Sudan has significantly thinned. As of a week ago, approximately 261,000 Southerners had moved back to the country’s ten Southern States since October 30th of last year,” David Gressly, UNMIS Regional Coordinator told the press in Juba. Mr. Gressly added, “An estimated 2,016 returnees entered Southern Sudan during the week ending on Tuesday, March 22nd, a far cry from the 36,000 who flooded into the region during the week of 15th December or the 26,800 who came into the south during the final week of January.” UNMIS cited out that the exhaustion of government funds for assisting returnees is believed to be one of the causes of the decline, and nearly all repatriation taking place currently are of a spontaneous nature, Gressly elaborated. Last year, the Government of Southern Sudan, GOSS, approved 30 million Sudanese pounds to be used for repatriating the IDPs from the North. The South Sudan Legislative Assembly early this month summoned the Minister of Disaster and Humanitarian Affairs to account for the usage of the SDG 30 million after realizing ineffectiveness in the use of the money. In a related development, Gressly said that UNMIS Mine Action has cleared 5.6 million square meters of land in South Sudan. He stressed that the main challenge remains for the Mine Action to de-mine areas in Jonglei States believed to be heavily mined. Last week the Southern Sudan De-mine Authority-SSDA said that the transitional Government of Southern Sudan will face several challenges as about 14 partners involved in demining their contracts will come to an end. Following Gressly’s recent visits to the Greater Upper Nile region to monitor insecurity challenges fuelled by militia groups, he said that the SPLA has used offensive operations against the militia. The UNMIS official said that the GOSS should use legal approaches against the militia groups which he confirmed to be four groups. “While the Government of Southern Sudan has a responsibility to address a security threat within its territory, we urge it to do so in accordance with international humanitarian law,” Gressly said. Posted in: Home -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
