By James Innocent
The focal person for Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC), Mr. Mabe Moses said over one hundred South Sudanese refugees from Uganda and DR Congo have voluntarily returned to Yei River County of Central Equatoria State.
Mabe said in the first week of 2023, they managed to register over a hundred households of returnees from both Congo and Uganda.
“Pertaining the return of the refugees from Uganda and Congo, people are interested to return home voluntarily, emerging from the first week of this month we have managed to register more than a hundred households who came from both Uganda and Congo and we encourage returnees to prepare themselves properly in order to come organized home,” he said.
Mr. Mabe said that the returnees cited poor feeding and social services including general hardship in lifestyle as the main reasons for their return home.
“The situation in Uganda is not favoring all the refugees in all camps as food ratio has been cut off and even farming is a big problem including schools for the children which is becoming very difficult and lifestyle is also another big blow, where there are now inadequate social services,” he said.
Mary Medina is one of the returnees from Uganda’s Rhino refugee camp to Yei. She stressed that food is not enough for all the refugees in Uganda making life difficult for them to live as social services are not also enough for the big number of refugees living in the settlement.
“The condition we are facing in Uganda is just food shortage, you find that a single person receives a ratio of cereals like 4kgs the same as beans and it doesn’t come in time and they talk of giving 4kgs but not reaching the actual kilograms so when it comes to the end of the month people suffer like hell,” she narrated their ordeals.
She further called on partners to support the returnees who are coming voluntarily to South Sudan for them to reintegrate back into their communities and rebuild their lives.
“The partners responsible for refugees like UNHCR should support the returnees who are coming back voluntarily since there are many people planning to come back home and when they come, they should be supported until they are well settled.” she appealed.
Medina added that people returning home should not have fear saying since she arrived in Yei people are living peacefully without any problem.