By Press Unit

National government delegation which is made up of Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Honourable Albino Akol, Minister of Youth and Sport, Dr. Albino Bol, Honourable Rebecca Joshua Okwaci, SPLM Chief Whip at the TNLA, RRC chairperson among others, arrived in Renk County on Monday with a clear policy from the central government concerning how to deal with the returnees crisis at the entry points across the country.

Last week, the governor of Upper Nile State H.E. James Odhok Oyay went to Wunthou (Joda) town to assess the humanitarian situation there, describing it as “very terrible” and earnestly called on the central government to take full responsibility of the crisis.

According to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Honourable Albino Akol, the Central Government had sent this delegation to take the full responsibility of the crisis with a clear policy: distributing the returnees across South Sudan.

Honourable Albino Akol further said the central government has no intention to establish a permanent camp to accommodate the returnees anywhere in the country, rather, the policy is to register them at the entry points and transport them to their areas of origin or any area of their choice in the country.

Foreign nationals on the other hand will be handed to their respective embassies in South Sudan which shall evacuate them to either their countries or other places.

As of right now, the registration and transportation process at the border has begun with river transport, land transport and air transport being the means.

Despite humanitarian organizations’ response to the situation at the border, the human suffering there seems inevitable.

A case, everybody found heart–wrenching; was that of a scarcely clad 16 days old baby, gaping for air in a hot dry semi-arid climate of Wunthou area, with his mother hoping that a situation better than that will come as she nursed the child under a shanty shade of an acacia tree.

Another case is that of a critically wounded, separated, and abandoned teenage girl, who was said to have sustained injuries from the latest clashes between Furs and a South Sudanese community in Kenana town in Sudan.

Thanks to RRC which considered treating their case with utmost urgency, meriting their immediate transportation to Renk town.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, who was the Head of the Central Government delegation, lamented the situation and called on the warring parties to cease hostilities and end the ongoing war in Sudan.

In Khartoum last month, a war broke out between the Sudan Armed Forces under General Al Burhan and Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo known as Hemeti.

Before then, Sudan had been home to over 800,000 South Sudanese Refugees and over 300,000 documented migrants.

Since the record began on 17 April 2023 at the border in Joda, so far, over 20,000 people have crossed into South Sudan with more influx expected in the days ahead.

Views exclusive rights: PRESS UNIT, Government House, Upper Nile State, South Sudan, May 2, 2023.

GOVERNMENT TO USE BOATS TO TRANSPORT RETURNEES TO THEIR RESPECTIVE PLACES

President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Saturday met with the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Albino Akol Atak to deliberate on how to manage the influx of returnees coming from Sudan.

Hon. Albino Akol in his remarks said the government will evacuate people in Paloch immediately in order to decongest Paloch and Renk airport as directed by the President through a proposed action plan.

He noted that the government will control the flow of returnees in Renk by considering other means of transportation such as water transport through the Nile River.

Views exclusive rights: Office of the President of South Sudan, Juba, 29th April 2023.