By Hou Akot Hou
Northern Bahr el Ghazal state (NBGs) authorities said they have received more than two thousand South Sudanese returnees who fled fighting in Sudan and have started arriving to the neighboring Aweil North County since Sunday.
The minister of Information and Communication in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, William Anyuon Kuol confirmed the arrivals to No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper Monday saying they (returnees) are currently stationed at various locations in Aweil North County.
After acknowledging receipt of the returnees, Anyuol now says they are planning to dispatch them to their areas of origin.
“There are three entry points. There are 800 households in Jaac, 310 households in Kiir-Adem and 250 households in Mayom-Angok. As authorities, we have not done enough but just located them and gave them little support in terms of food assistance,” he said.
Anyuon however said they are reaching out to the humanitarian agencies to intervene to give them (returnees) food and non-food items.
“When I talked of humanitarian partners I mean the UN agencies with International and national organizations. We have contacted them to come and assist these influxes”.
The minister however worried that as it is beginning to rain in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, it is likely that the returnees will be rained on and that is why they are appealing to the humanitarian partners to step in.
Anyuon said that those who came to Aweil North ran from the areas of Southern Kordofan and others from Darfur region due to the conflict that erupted on 15 April in Sudan.
Fighting erupted between Sudan Armed Forces led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary, Rapid Support Forces of Mohamed Hamdan Daglo in the Sudan’s capital Khartoum and other towns since 15 April 2023 triggering mass exodus of both foreign nationals and Sudanese citizens out of the country.
Meanwhile a US-brokered 72-hour ceasefire between Sudan’s warring generals officially came into effect Tuesday after 10 days of urban combat killed hundreds, wounded thousands and sparked a mass exodus of foreigners, AFP reported.