Severe flooding in six Sudanese states has led the members of Sudan’s Joint Return Task Force to postpone Nile barge operations to return internally displaced people to their homes in the south of the country when the rainy season ends in early October. With the Southern Sudanese government declaring Upper Nile, Jonglei, Unity, Northern Bahr El Ghazal, Lakes and Warrap States as disaster areas, voluntary returns by river barge have been put on hold to ensure the safety of returning internally displaced people. So far, 451 displaced Sudanese have been assisted to return home to Shambe and Bor in Jonglei state from Kosti on the White Nile by barge. Another barge return had been planned for early next month from Kosti to Malakal in Upper Nile state. The halt comes as air operations to return displaced people from Khartoum to former homes in Central and Western Equatoria via Juba continue on IOM-chartered planes after the destruction of a key bridge by flood waters near Yei delayed the return for safety reasons of a group of returnees bound for their home town of Maridi in Western Equatoria. The group of 75 had already been registered and medically screened for return by IOM on 22 July and will now be flown from Khartoum to Juba on 28 July and from Juba to Maridi on 29 July. In new operational developments, the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) is now logistically assisting the return operation by generously providing cargo flights from Khartoum to Juba to transport the 1-2 metric cubes of luggage each displaced family is permitted to take back home with them. Since air operations began on 10 July, 778 people have returned to their homes in Southern Sudan. Overall, about 44,000 displaced South Sudanese have been assisted as part of the Joint Return Plan of the Government of National Unity (GoNU), Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) and the United Nations and which is implemented by IOM to help those displaced by decades of war between north and south Sudan, go home. For further information, please contact: Simona Opitz IOM Khartoum Tel: +249 912339700 E-mail: "mailto:sopitz@iom.int">sopitz@iom.int