Five days into the IOM airlift of stranded South Sudanese from Khartoum to Juba, a total of 1,890 South Sudanese have arrived in the South Sudan capital. Some 600 more are scheduled to arrive today. The airlift, which began with two flights a day, is now up to four flights a day, each carrying about 150 passengers. IOM plans to increase the number of flights to six per day to complete the movement in the next few weeks.  The passengers, many of whom were previously stranded at the Kosti way station 300kms south of Khartoum for several months, are met by IOM teams at Juba airport. After being registered, they are transferred to transit facilities.  The first 1,292 returnees to arrive were taken to a UNHCR-managed transit centre in Juba. But the facilities at the centre have now reached near full capacity.  In the days leading up to the beginning of the operation, IOM had worked intensively to identify a transit centre large enough to accommodate most of the expected 12,000 returnees. A number of locations were identified by the South Sudanese authorities and were assessed by IOM and its partners before agreement was reached on a site located on the outskirts of Juba. The area, which is normally used as a teacher training facility, is adequately equipped to receive returnees.  "BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(51,102,204) 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(51,102,204) 1px solid; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; BACKGROUND: rgb(153,204,255) 0% 50%; FLOAT: right; CLEAR: right; BORDER-TOP: rgb(51,102,204) 1px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: rgb(51,102,204) 1px solid"> "PADDING-BOTTOM: 3px; PADDING-LEFT: 3px; PADDING-RIGHT: 3px; BACKGROUND: rgb(51,102,204) 0% 50%; PADDING-TOP: 3px">Photo Gallery alt="" border="0" height="12" hspace="0" src= "/jahia/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/shared/mainsite/graphics/interface/icons_buttons/blue_link_box.gif"> "#" onclick= "window.open('http://www.iom.int/Template/southsudan/more-south-sudanese-assisted/ind…', 'mywindow', 'location=1,status=1,scrollbars=1, width=800,height=750')">More South Sudanese Returnees Assisted by IOM IOM has now established emergency shelter facilities on the site to accommodate an initial 1,000 returnees. It also prepared an additional 1,500 family shelter kits and tents. IOM’s humanitarian partners are providing clean water, food, health and other services. The first returnees were transferred to the site on 17th May.  "The majority of the returnees previously stranded in Kosti have indicated Juba as their destination. But many do not have family or community support within Juba," says IOM South Sudan Chief of Mission Vincent Houver.  "This essentially means that incoming returnees are likely to remain at the transit site until durable solutions are identified, including the allocation of land for them to kick-start their lives – typically a long and difficult process," he adds.  Meanwhile, 1,917 returnees from Renk in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State arrived at Juba port on 16th May by barge. The group, which left Renk two weeks ago, included 732 people who had their own means of transport to reach their final destination.  Following on-arrival health checks, IOM transported 512 returnees to the UNHCR-managed transit centre on the 16th. The remaining 673 were taken to the new transit site on the 17th.  Renk now represents the only viable entry point into South Sudan for returnees travelling overland from Sudan. As a result, large groups of returnees have been stranded there.  The town, whose economy has been crippled by the closure of cross-border trade, currently hosts upwards of 18,000 returnees, in a security environment that has deteriorated sharply in recent weeks.  Despite those security concerns, spontaneous returns have been on the increase, with approximately 1,200 new arrivals per week, according to Houver.  Earlier in March, over 1,300 South Sudanese returnees were caught in cross-fire near the town of Heglig, forcing them to turn back and enter South Sudan through Renk. IOM transported the group to Malakal by road and then by air to their final destinations.  Over the past two weeks, IOM South Sudan has provided return assistance to upwards of 5,000 stranded returnees. IOM and the humanitarian community estimate that some 100,000 South Sudanese nationals may return to South Sudan in the coming months.  For more information please contact:  Vincent Houver IOM Juba Tel: +211 922 406 615 Email: "mailto:vhouver@iom.int">vhouver@iom.int