In response to a request from the Sudanese
government and in coordination with the UN, IOM is to organise over
the next six weeks the voluntary, safe and orderly return of some
10,000 internally displaced Dinkas from three sites in South Darfur
to their homes in Northern Bahr El Ghazal province.
A first group of some 500 displaced Dinkas is
scheduled leave Beliel camp for the nearby state capital town of
Nyala, where they will board an IOM chartered train on 24 April.
The 100-mile journey east to El Daein will be the first leg of
their long journey home. Other groups of displaced Dinkas are
scheduled to leave Nyala town and the nearby Saman Al Naga camp
over the coming weeks.
Upon arrival in El Daein, the returnees will
overnight at a rest station before starting the second leg of their
journey by bus to Samaha, where IOM has recently opened a way
station to provide basic facilities such as water, sanitation, and
shelter for the returning Dinkas. Health facilities are being
provided by the NGO, Cordaid.
The displaced will then cross the river Kiir
on board two boats chartered by the NGO Concern to arrive in Kiir
Galama, a locality on the southern banks of the river. From there,
the returnees will be transported by IOM to their final
destinations in Northern Bahr El Ghazal province.
IOM and partners have recently provided
emergency assistance to another group of some 2,300 displaced
Dinkas who were stranded in Kiir Galama to help them return to
their places of origin in the central highlands of Northern Bahr El
Ghazal.
The Dinkas are part of a much larger group of
tens of thousands of fellow tribes people who were displaced by
conflict and drought in South Sudan to South Darfur 19 years ago
and who were again displaced by the fighting in Darfur in 2003.
Since the signing of the comprehensive peace
agreement between Khartoum and the Sudanese People's Liberation
Movement in January 2005, more and more internally displaced people
have been making their way home to South Sudan.
With little wealth after having lost their
possessions in their initial flight to Darfur and again deprived of
any assets by the conflict in Darfur, their journey home is proving
to be long and difficult as they are forced to sell whatever they
can to pay for train and truck fees to take them home.
"More and more displaced people want to return
to Northern Bahr El Ghazal before the onset of the rainy season,
but can't for lack our resources," says IOM's Louis Hoffmann. "By
helping them now to get them home, it will be easier for people to
reintegrate back into their communities and to restart their
lives."
For further information, please contact:
Louis Hoffmann
IOM Juba
Tel: +882 16433 38260
E-mail:
"mailto:lhoffmann@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">lhoffmann@iom.int
Anne Marie Linde
IOM Khartoum
Tel: +249 912 141 757
E-mail
"mailto:amlinde@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">amlinde@iom.int