Over 30 Families Arrive Home From Sudan

This article was last updated on May 25, 2022

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The individuals ranging from children, mothers, youth, elderly men and women were warmly received by the Director of Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) arrived in Torit, the State capital of Eastern Equatoria State on Wednesday.

The 38 households caught a strong attention of their relatives and friends as they joined the arriving returnee sisters and brothers to help them in offloading their heavy luggage.

The latest returnees witnessed a long and boring voyage as they passed through Renk and all the way to Torit via Juba, after long stay in Renk of Upper Nile after leaving Sudan through Port Sudan.

Speaking to Gurtong at the Torit Way Station, the Relief and rehabilitation Commission (RRC) in Eastern Equatoria State Director, Mark Lotang Thomas told Gurtong that most of the arriving returnees are from Torit and few of them will proceed to other counties.

The returnees’ team leader Paulino Landy Lotorit Michael expressed his happiness the fact that he finally reaches his true homeland.

On behalf of the his fellow returnees, he deeply registered gratitude for positive reception from the state leaders while equally in a special way recognizing efforts by International Organization for Migration (IOM) in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the RRC for making him with his families to securely arrive his state at last.

A mother among the returnees’ Cecilia Mustafa Oreste also expressed gratefulness as she uttered emotionally in a astonishing way how safely and hard the long fragile journey had been.

The UNHCR’s Field Associate, Gideon Kenyi Patrick, explained that his agency in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), usually supervises facilitates food distribution provided by the World Food Programme (WFP) saying they are implementers of the UN relief food aid to vulnerable groups like IDPs and returnees.

He said the IOM plays vital role as it facilitates transportation of returnees, right from Sudan’s Khartoum to South Sudan’s final destinations in their respective states.

Officials have clarified that the State authorities always finally bear the responsibility of providing basic services to the returning population to suitably settle in their originally homes.

According to the UNCHR’s tracking testimony for Torit, several returnees’ convoys have arrived from Sudan.

Post independence period of the Republic of South Sudan following world’s recognition after official proclamation on July 9, 2011 in Juba, numerous influx of returnees’ convoys have continued to return home in large numbers from Khartoum and other key towns with Sudan.