An April 8th deadline imposed on an estimated 500,000 Southern
Sudanese to choose between returning home from the Republic of
Sudan or staying on in the north will represent a massive
logistical challenge to both governments and to the international
community, according to IOM.

The Organization had hoped that an extension to the deadline
beyond the current 8th April would be included in a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) that the two governments signed on 12 February.
However, changing the deadline did not form part of the
agreement.

The estimated 500,000 South Sudanese, who are still residing in
the Republic of Sudan, seven months after South Sudan declared
independence, will be required to leave the north upon the expiry
of the deadline or regularize their stay.  Out of that number,
about 120,000 have already been registered by UNHCR and are ready
to depart.

In addition, there are more than 11,000 South Sudanese returnees
currently stranded at Kosti way station in the north, waiting for
transport to the South.

"It is logistically impossible to move half a million people in
less than two months, in a vast country like Sudan with many
infrastructural challenges. We desperately need enough time to
guarantee safe and dignified return of these people," says Mohammed
Abdiker, IOM's Director of Operations and Emergencies.

The MoU provides for the agreement by the two parties on the
modalities of repatriation, the issue of security of the returnees
on the road and at the borders, and it limits the personal effects
that returnees will be allowed to carry.  It is expected to
expedite the process of the voluntary repatriation and ease the
plight of the returnees.

IOM has been supporting the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan
by assisting in the voluntary return of more than 23,000 Southern
Sudanese from Khartoum and other cities in the north to their homes
in the South.

The Organization used river barges, trains, trucks and airplanes
to this end.  A total of 21 passenger barges and 40 luggage
barges have been used to date to carry 20,000 returnees from Kosti
in the Republic of Sudan to various destinations along the river
Nile in the South.

In November 2011, IOM began assisting southerners in Khartoum to
return by train to Aweil and Wau in South Sudan. Two trains (20
passenger carriages and 44 luggage wagons) left Khartoum on Friday
28 October with 1,443 people on board, but over 1,000 more joined
the train before it crossed the border into the South.

The Organization also chartered flights to repatriate extremely
vulnerable people. In December and January, about 361 vulnerable
people with their families were assisted to return to the South.
They included some unaccompanied minors who were flown south to
rejoin their families.

In South Sudan itself, IOM has been assisting in transporting
people stranded at various points, unable to continue to their
final destinations. Since South Sudan declared independence in July
last year, IOM has assisted more than 20,000 people stranded in
Renk.

In addition to repatriation activities, IOM is also supporting
the reintegration of the returnees, organizing documentation,
providing clean water, digging and building latrines and providing
health services.

In collaboration with the South Sudan's Ministry of Humanitarian
Affairs and Disaster Management (MHADM), IOM is planning to provide
various types of assistance to more than 400,000 returnees by the
end of 2012.

The Organization is also in the process of developing an
operational plan for the remaining Southern Sudanese in the North
wishing to move South.

Funding has principally come from the UN Sudan Common
Humanitarian Fund (CHF) and the UN Central Emergency Revolving Fund
(CERF), but significant new contributions are needed to address the
remaining needs.

For more information please contact:

Jill Helke

IOM Sudan

Tel: +2499 183570801/2/3

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

or

Samantha Donkin

IOM South Sudan

Tel: +241122406728

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