By Bida Elly David
The President Salva Kiir Mayardit has called on the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) sheltering at the Protection of Civilians (PoCs) sites within UNMISS compound to relocate back to their areas of settlement and embark on rebuilding their lives.
This appeal came following a meeting between the President and traditional Chiefs and elders responsible for the IDPs at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Protection of Civilians Sites (PoCs) in Juba.
The meeting between President Kiir, the traditional chiefs and elders discussed the current situation of the IDPs living inside the PoCs and ways through which they will be relocated out to their permanent residential areas for settlement.
Many South Sudanese during the 2016 civil war left the Country to seek for refugee at the neighboring countries while others remained internally displaced. The internally displaced citizens were rescued through accommodation provided by the UNMISS team in the Country. Thus the President after noticing calmness in the Country took the initiative to recall them back to their areas of settlement.
Speaking to the leaders during the meeting, President Salva Kiir reiterated need for those citizens still in the protection of Civilians site at UNMISS to come out in order to restore their lives.
The President underscored difficulties to address the IDPs due to the tight nature of accommodation that kept them locked and tight at the UN protection of civilians’ sites.
“You are all my people, the problem that I have not been meeting you is because you decided to lock yourself inside the PoCs, I urge you to come out of PoCs and find settlement so that you can build your lives and raise your families,” he said.
“Go and tell those that are still hiding in the camps that you have met Salva Kiir and he is ready to welcome and meet you anytime, the President told the visiting chiefs and elders from the Juba PoC.
The leaders and the elders raised lack of clean water, schools for their children, health facilities and poor living conditions at the camps being some of the factors affecting their livelihoods.
They applauded President Kiir for contributing much in restoring back the fragile peace and expressed their readiness to relocate from POCs to their designated areas (land) in Central Equatoria State, Juba for resettlement.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, the Paramount Chief, Thomas Tut, thanked the President for accepting their call and to be given land in Central Equatoria State for settlement.
Chief Tut called upon the Chiefs in all PoCs across the Country to engage and bring out their people from PoCs and reintegrate them into areas of settlements to enable them rebuild their lives through commercial activities and many others.