Returnees struggling to find shelter in North Bahr El Ghazal state

Thousands of returnees who arrived in Northern Bahr El Ghazal state from neighboring war-torn Sudan are sleeping in the open.

Authorities say majority of these people refused to return their homes of origin as it had planned.

Angelo Deng Akol, the Deputy Chairperson of the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission in the state, said on Thursday that they had planned to reintegrate these returnees into society in order to decongest refugee camps meant for only Sudanese nationals who fled conflict in their country.

Deng said some of the returnees are sleeping under trees and in schools and churches in Aweil town.

 “If you go to a place like Wadweil and the counties like Aweil East County headquarter, you will not miss to see some returnees sitting under trees because they have failed to reunite with their relatives,” he told Juba Echo.

 “We have been working hard to have an integration package for these people, and our role now is to put them on the registry to see to it that their they are allocated land to settle on just like other citizens in the state,” he added.

Deng noted that some of the returnees were born and raised in Sudan, adding that others who fled previous conflicts in South Sudan lost contact with some of their relatives.

He said the state government is working to ensure that these returnees are reintegrated into society.

Deng appealed to the host communities in Aweil town to provide necessary support to the returnees as they wait for the state government to allocate them land for resettlement

Northern Bahr El Ghazal state is among the areas hosting refugees and returnees who fled fighting between two military factions in Sudan since April 15.

South Sudan is currently hosting more than 380,000 returnees and refugees who escaped the ongoing fighting in neighboring Sudan.