The first group of internally displaced people (IDPs) who left
Khartoum on an IOM convoy last Saturday as part of an ambitious
operation to help return up to 150,000 displaced people to their
former homes, is due to arrive at their final destinations in South
Kordofan state today.

The group, consisting of 176 people, rested at an IOM managed
way station in Kadugli yesterday while their belongings were
reloaded for the final leg of their journey to their home
communities today.

“We expect to arrive at final destinations by
midday,” says Ben Hoareau, IOM head of office in Kadugli,
“where the returnees will be welcomed by local Reception
Committees. WFP and CARE will also be present to distribute food
rations to assist them during the first three months back in their
home villages.”

The group that left an IOM departure centre near Khartoum amidst
speeches, song and dance and the cheers of large crowds from a
nearby IDP camp, has been selected from 500,000 IDPs who registered
at IOM and FAR (Fellowship for African Relief) managed registration
points in the Khartoum area for voluntary return to the South and
South Kordofan.

Among those returning is Hua Gaely Kaafi, who is going home with
two wives and five children. He is optimistic that he will manage
to start a new life back in Shaata Tamaan, Kadugli county. The
farmer and trader who spent 14 years in Khartoum counts on support
of family members back in his home village to renovate his
father’s house and work the piece of land he inherited from
him.

For others such as Omar Kora, who returns with a wife and six
children after 21 years of displacement, reintegration will be more
difficult. He will depend on the support of local authorities to
find a place to stay and be allotted land to sustain his family,
but he too is optimistic that he can provide a better life and
future for his family in Southern Kordofan.

A second convoy is due to leave the IOM departure centre this
morning and another nine convoys are scheduled from Khartoum
assisting an additional 5,000 IDPs to return home by the end of the
month. The frequency of convoy departure will increase from March
onwards until the rainy season stops the movements by mid-year.
 Meanwhile, the registration of other IDPs wanting to return
to their former homes is continuing.

The returns are being jointly organized by the Government of
National Unity (GoNU), the Government of South Sudan (GoSS), the
United Nations (UN) and IOM, with priority given to those areas
conducive to return after decades of civil war in the South. First
priority is given to communities that have the capacity to absorb
large numbers of returnees in terms of safety, infrastructure,
health and educational facilities as well as food and water
resources.

While the overall responsibility for IDPs rests with the
government, the international community represented by the UN, IOM
and a host of non-governmental organizations such as FAR and CARE,
is involved on all levels in terms of technical and operational
assistance as well as on protection monitoring in order to ensure
that return and reintegration of IDPs after decades of displacement
are safe and sustainable.

For further information, please contact:

Birgit Hussfeld

IOM Khartoum

Tel: +249 183 570 801/2/3/4 ext 153

E-mail: "mailto:bhussfeld@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">bhussfeld@iom.int

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