300 Returnees Arrive In Jonglei For Registration

23 November 2010 – (Malakal) – Over three hundred returnees from northern Sudan arrived in Akobo county in Jonglei state in time for the referendum registration exercise currently going on.

The coordinator of the returnees Mister Emmanuel Bol Kueth spoke to SRS on Monday in Malakal.

[Emmanuel Kueth]: “We have brought the IDPS who were living in Kosti. Initially the ship that they were supposed to use broke down, but the local government of Akobo county hired another ship, so that the returnees get to Akobo on time for the registration exercise for the upcoming referendum. The total number of those returnees is three hundred and ten. Some of them have gone to Renk and Nassir, while the others came to Malakal.”

Kueth said that the government will provide tents and food aid to the returnees for sometime until they finally relocate to their original homes.

[Emmanuel Kueth]: “We have brought around 300 hundred tents for the returnees. The government will take care of those people, and in two weeks time there will also be more tents provided for the returnees who are going to settle in Akobo county. On top of that those guys will also be provided with food aid for three months. The local government headed by the commissioner of Akobo along with members of the council is trying their level best to help those returnees, and if they are not able to cater for everything then the GOSS government will step in to help.”

Many southerners have been relocating from different northern states to southern Sudan ahead of the self determination referendum scheduled January 9th 2011.