Unity state officials start registration of returnees in Koch County

The Unity State officials in partnership with the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) on Friday commenced the registration exercise for thousands of returnees in Koch County.

William Ruot Riak Teny, the Chairperson for the RRC, said the registration is being done ahead of the upcoming food distribution by the World Food Programme (WFP).

He said the exercise is targeting returnees who arrived in Koch County via Nyaruop Port from war-torn Sudan since July.

“The ongoing registration is targeting register more than 5,000 returnees in Koch town and other areas with in Koch County,” Teny told Juba Echo in an interview in Koch town.

Some returnees abandoned their settlements in search for food for and medication for their children.

“The returnees will start receiving food by next week, as we speak more new arrivals are coming through Nyaruop Port, and there are some people who came without being registered by officials at the border crossing points,” Teny said.

He said they will be tracing some of the unregistered returnees who crossed into Koch County.

South Sudan now hosts more than 190,000 returnees, including refugees who fled fighting in Sudan across the 12 border crossing points, according to the United Nations.

The fighting, which erupted in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on April 15 and soon spread to different parts of the country, is being fought between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Both sides have accused each other of initiating the conflict.