By Hou Akot Hou
Over one thousand returnees in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State have received financial support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The cash is a part of the reintegration package strategy.
A representative of the State Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC), Dut Garang Deng, said a returnee with an eligible voucher gets 104,000 SSP.
Mr. Garang said the exercise started on Tuesday, this week.
“We give this cash for reintegration, and the purpose is to help them get necessities for their lives, such as food and plastic sheeting, among others,” Dut narrated.
He stated that returnees who are targeted by IOM cash disbursement will also receive food assistance afterward when the current cash assistance is successfully completed.
Deng said the cash payment is targeting 1,000 returnees in Aweil Town alone.
He added that they will also be moving to the other counties as per the plan of the state’s RRC.
He, however, noted that another concern being raised by the returnees is the lack of a permanent plot of land on which they are resting to resettle.
The RRC official disclosed that the rest who couldn’t trace their relatives have requested to be allocated plots to put up their structure.
One of the returnee beneficiaries, Adeng Bak Dut, commended IOM for coming to their rescue with the cash payment.
“This financial aid is of importance to us,” she said. “It has come at the right time, as most of us are now striving to get a proper shelter.”
As the dry season approaches, the returnees said they wish to have their own structures like the host communities and integrate with them. Adding cash came in handy as the economic crisis bites.
“So we are thankful to the humanitarian organization and government, especially IOM,”
Thousands of other returnees, including refugees camping at Wadwill in Aweil, are still grappling with the dire humanitarian conditions that the government and partners are struggling to contend with.