More than 1,500 internally displaced people (IDPs) have been
assisted by IOM over the past month to voluntarily return to former
homes in southern parts of the Blue Nile State.
By May, a minimum of 3,000 IDPs are expected to be assisted to
areas surrounding Kurmuk from northern parts of the Blue Nile State
in partnership with UNHCR. This will allow them sufficient time to
get settled before the start of the planting and rainy season.
Registration facilitated by UNHCR is ongoing to determine the
overall number of IDPs to be assisted in Blue Nile State until the
end of the year.
In one movement, an entire community was relocated by IOM from
Jocob town to their new home in Khor Bodi.
"The receiving community had constructed a new school in
preparation of the expected returns," explained Nelson Bosch, head
of IOM's office in Damazine in the Blue Nile State. "So, in
addition to the personal belongings of the IDPs, IOM also
transported in this case all the school furniture and
equipment."
The organized returns in Blue Nile State are part of an overall
joint return plan for 2007 that was agreed upon by the Government
of National Unity (GoNU), the Government of South Sudan (GoSS), the
UN and IOM. Other operations include the voluntary return of IDPs
from Khartoum to South Sudan and South Kordofan and helping those
displaced in South Darfur return to home communities in Northern
Bahr el Ghazal and elsewhere within South Sudan.
 
All IDP returnees on organized movements receive assistance
consisting of basic household items provided by the United Nations
Joint Logistics Center (UNJLC) and a three-month food ration by the
World Food Programme (WFP) to help them during the initial
reintegration period in home villages after many years of
displacement.
Refugee returns from Ethiopia to Blue Nile State in Sudan has also
resumed. Two convoys carrying nearly 3,160 refugees arrived in
Sudan on 1 and 3 March after being escorted by IOM from Bonga camp
in Ethiopia. They were taken to Jindi in Kurmuk County and to
Keli.
Blue Nile, which borders Ethiopia, is a major receiving state for
refugees returning home. In partnership with UNHCR, IOM had
facilitated the return of more than 2,000 refugees from Bonga camp
in Ethiopia to Chali in Blue Nile State in an operation that began
last December. However, operations were halted for security reasons
by the UN in January.
UNHCR and IOM have agreed to assist up to 15,000 Sudanese refugees
from Ethiopia and Kenya and another 5,000 Sudanese refugees from
the Central African Republic to return home in 2007. IOM provides
mainly pre-departure medical screening, transportation and escort
for the refugees.
For further information, please contact:
Birgit Hussfeld 
E-mail:
"mailto:bhussfeld@iom.int" target="" title=
"">bhussfeld@iom.int 
Simona Opitz
Public Information, International Organization for Migration
(IOM),  Khartoum office
Tel: +249 / 183 570 801 / 2 / 3 / 4 ext. 153
E-mail:
"mailto:sopitz@iom.int" target="" title=
"">sopitz@iom.int 

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