IOM Director-General, William Lacy Swing arrived yesterday in Juba,
the capital of South Sudan, on the third leg of a visit which also
took him to Somalia and Kenya.

Ambassador Swing is in South Sudan to meet government officials,
including President Salva Kiir Maryadit, and to inspect
humanitarian emergency work being carried out by IOM.

This is Mr. Swing's first visit to the country since South Sudan
declared independence from the North in July 2011 and joined IOM at
the end of the same year.

Ambassador Swing will review with South Sudanese government
officials the progress made in assisting the return of thousands of
their citizens from the north. The Sudanese government had set a
deadline for all southerners wishing to return to the south to do
so before April 8th, 2012, or seek to regularize their stay in the
north.

"I am excited to be here to visit the newest of our members to
underline IOM's commitments to work with the government and the
people of South Sudan. The challenges faced by the new country are
many; foremost is to facilitate a safe and dignified return of
thousands of South Sudanese and to provide them with means to
sustain their livelihood once they are back. I am glad that in a
short time, IOM has succeeded to assemble a team of highly
motivated staff, local and international, who have demonstrated
great commitment to take on the work of assisting the returnees and
the local community," said the IOM Director-General.

Mr. Swing will also tour Pibor town in Jonglei State, the scene
of recent inter-ethnic clashes which left an estimated 120,000
displaced. IOM has sent four convoys of non-food relief items,
including plastic sheeting, blankets, jerry cans and cooking
utensils to the area, and is currently working with humanitarian
partners on the ground to distribute the aid, targeting some 40,000
beneficiaries.

Mr. Swing will also inspect ongoing work to assist thousands of
Southern Sudanese returnees from the North after they arrive in the
South. IOM provides transport to final destinations, pre-departure
health checks and other assistance.

On his first day in Juba, Mr. Swing met the deputy foreign
minister, Prof. Elias Nyamlell Wako. The talks centred on the need
for the South and the North governments to sign a bilateral
agreement to facilitate the return of remaining South Sudanese
nationals from the north.

There are an estimated 500,000 Southern Sudanese still in
Khartoum and elsewhere in the north. But according to Mr. Wako the
number could be much higher.

Mr. Swing assured the government of  IOM's continued
support in responding to multiple humanitarian emergencies in South
Sudan, as well as programmes to support the reintegration of the
returnees.

Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005,
more than 2.5 million South Sudanese have returned to the
South.  IOM supports the Government of South Sudan with its
repatriation programme. 

To date IOM in South Sudan has provided transportation
assistance to over 52,000 stranded returnees to reach their areas
of final destination by road and river barges.

South Sudan lacks basic infrastructure; there are less than
100km of tarred road across the country. Returnees are often
stranded at points of entry due to a lack of available transport.
Insecurity along the border areas with Sudan has limited return
routes, and added more challenges to the returns process.

Upon arrival at the final destinations, the returnees are
confronted with challenges of slow allocation of land by the
authorities, lack of shelter, lack of employment opportunities and
insecurity.

IOM is developing an integrated and comprehensive reintegration
strategy for the UN with the backing of UN Humanitarian Coordinator
Lise Grande.

Mr. Swing toured the Juba port where thousands of returnees pass
through to continue with their journey to other parts of the
country. He witnessed several river barges being offloaded with
returnees' possessions in preparation for a journey to final
destinations.

IOM staff working at the port explained to Mr. Swing the
challenges of sorting out huge volume of luggage belonging to the
returnees, many of whom were either born or had lived in Sudan for
many years. They include household items, workshop machinery and
individual means of transport such as bicycles, motorcycles and
mopeds, building materials and food items.

Though South Sudan became an IOM member late last year, the
Organization has been working in Southern Sudan since 2005 in areas
such as IDPs return assistance, tracking and registration of the
returns, humanitarian relief operations, provision of immigration,
border management equipment and trainings and the provision of
clean water and sanitation.

Since January 2011, the Organization has served 187,070
individuals through the provision of non-food items and emergency
relief, built 1090 latrines and provided portable water to 246,700
individuals in rural areas.

The Organization, in partnership with the South Sudan Relief and
Rehabilitation Commission, operates a tracking and monitoring
database on returnees and IDPs for the humanitarian community in
South Sudan.   Since 2005 to date it has tracked and
registered more than 2.5 million returnees; the largest record kept
by any organization in South Sudan.

For more information, please contact:

Vincent Hoover

IOM Juba

Tel: +211.901.238.886

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