IOM and its humanitarian partners are working to assist more than
6,000 South Sudanese who remain stranded at an open site near the
town of Renk, the closest Southern Sudanese town to the
international border with the Republic of Sudan.

This week, the Organization assisted a small group of 198
returnees to reach their final destination in Malakal, the capital
of Upper Nile, by utilising small boats down the White Nile. IOM is
hoping to scale up the operation in the forthcoming days as more
river transportation is secured.

The returnees, who had been living in camps for internally
displaced persons (IDPs) and in settlements in and around Khartoum
for many years, began their journey to the South, some in
government provided transportation.

However, unlike most returns to the South, their journey ended
in the town of Renk, where they have been living on a site with
limited access to food, water, sanitation and health
facilities.

The returnees who are mostly women, children and elderly are
living in the open surrounded by bundles of their possessions, with
more people arriving on a daily basis.

An IOM team is currently in Renk to conduct medical screening,
tracking and registration activities and is working with other
humanitarian agencies to improve the living conditions at the
temporary site.

IOM is also working with the government of South Sudan to
relocate the returnees to areas of greater security and improved
access while efforts are being made to secure river transportation
to Malakal. A contingency plan to assist the returnees to their
final destinations is also being developed in coordination with
OCHA and UNHCR.

Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 
2005, an estimated 2.5 million people who had been displaced during
the war have returned to South Sudan, mostly through the
government's repatriation programme.

For more information, please contact:

Samantha Donkin

IOM Juba

Tel: +249 922406728

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