An April 8th deadline imposed on an estimated 500,000 Southern Sudanese to choose between returning home from the Republic of Sudan or staying on in the north will represent a massive logistical challenge to both governments and to the international community, according to IOM. The Organization had hoped that an extension to the deadline beyond the current 8th April would be included in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that the two governments signed on 12 February. However, changing the deadline did not form part of the agreement. The estimated 500,000 South Sudanese, who are still residing in the Republic of Sudan, seven months after South Sudan declared independence, will be required to leave the north upon the expiry of the deadline or regularize their stay.  Out of that number, about 120,000 have already been registered by UNHCR and are ready to depart. In addition, there are more than 11,000 South Sudanese returnees currently stranded at Kosti way station in the north, waiting for transport to the South. "It is logistically impossible to move half a million people in less than two months, in a vast country like Sudan with many infrastructural challenges. We desperately need enough time to guarantee safe and dignified return of these people," says Mohammed Abdiker, IOM's Director of Operations and Emergencies. The MoU provides for the agreement by the two parties on the modalities of repatriation, the issue of security of the returnees on the road and at the borders, and it limits the personal effects that returnees will be allowed to carry.  It is expected to expedite the process of the voluntary repatriation and ease the plight of the returnees. IOM has been supporting the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan by assisting in the voluntary return of more than 23,000 Southern Sudanese from Khartoum and other cities in the north to their homes in the South. The Organization used river barges, trains, trucks and airplanes to this end.  A total of 21 passenger barges and 40 luggage barges have been used to date to carry 20,000 returnees from Kosti in the Republic of Sudan to various destinations along the river Nile in the South. In November 2011, IOM began assisting southerners in Khartoum to return by train to Aweil and Wau in South Sudan. Two trains (20 passenger carriages and 44 luggage wagons) left Khartoum on Friday 28 October with 1,443 people on board, but over 1,000 more joined the train before it crossed the border into the South. The Organization also chartered flights to repatriate extremely vulnerable people. In December and January, about 361 vulnerable people with their families were assisted to return to the South. They included some unaccompanied minors who were flown south to rejoin their families. In South Sudan itself, IOM has been assisting in transporting people stranded at various points, unable to continue to their final destinations. Since South Sudan declared independence in July last year, IOM has assisted more than 20,000 people stranded in Renk. In addition to repatriation activities, IOM is also supporting the reintegration of the returnees, organizing documentation, providing clean water, digging and building latrines and providing health services. In collaboration with the South Sudan's Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management (MHADM), IOM is planning to provide various types of assistance to more than 400,000 returnees by the end of 2012. The Organization is also in the process of developing an operational plan for the remaining Southern Sudanese in the North wishing to move South. Funding has principally come from the UN Sudan Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF) and the UN Central Emergency Revolving Fund (CERF), but significant new contributions are needed to address the remaining needs. For more information please contact: Jill Helke IOM Sudan Tel: +2499 183570801/2/3 E-mail: "mailto:jhelke@iom.int">jhelke@iom.int  or Samantha Donkin IOM South Sudan Tel: +241122406728 E-mail: "mailto:sdonkin@iom.int">sdonkin@iom.int