Fifteen qualified teachers displaced by years of civil war have
left camps in and around Khartoum to return to South Sudan's Unity
Sate to take up employment.

The teachers and their families, accompanied by IOM staff,
travelled by land via the towns of Kosti and Kadugli and are
expected in Pariang County later today. 

Upon arrival, they will be met by IOM and United Nations (UN)
partners and by representatives of South Sudan's Ministry of
Education and Relief and Rehabilitation Commission. Returning
families will receive three-month rations of food assistance from
the World Food Programme and material assistance from IOM,
including tents, plastic sheeting, sleeping mats, blankets and
mosquito nets.

They are part of a larger group of 264 qualified Sudanese who
have benefited from a Danish and Japanese funded programme aimed at
addressing some of the critical gaps in knowledge and skills that
have been identified by the Government of South Sudan, particularly
in the fields of education and health. 

IOM's Return and Reintegration of Qualified Sudanese (RQS)
programme has been instrumental in returning qualified
professionals in Central, Eastern and Western Equatoria, Warrap,
Western Bahr el Ghazal, Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Unity
States.

The programme, carried out in coordination with the Government
of National Unity (GoNU), Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) and
relevant UN agencies and NGOs also seeks to help Sudanese
professionals from the diaspora who wish to complete long- or
short-term assignments in Sudan.

For more information on IOM's RQS programme, please go to
class="paragraph-link-no-underline" href=
"http://www.iom.int/rqs">www.iom.int/rqs or contact:

Ester Gigir

IOM Sudan

Tel + 249-0912170087

E-mail: "mailto:egigir@iom.int">egigir@iom.int