By Bida Elly David
President Salva Kiir Mayardit calls on South Sudanese refugees in the neighboring countries and others in internally displaced camps, to return home to participate in nation building and vote in elections.
The president made the call during his opening address at the peace process, dubbed the Tumaini Initiative, on Thursday in Nairobi, Kenya, with the holdout groups.
According to President Kiir’s office stated that the head of state accepting a dialogue with the holdout group was a call to set the country free from unrest and restore amnesty for the citizens.
Upon arriving in Juba on Friday afternoon, Foreign Affairs Minister Ramadan Mohamed Abdalla Goc said the President initiated the peace process to restore a comprehensive peace in South Sudan.
Goc underscored that the President reiterated his administration’s determination to negotiate with the holdout groups to reach a peace deal to pave the way for elections and economic restoration.
Last year, the First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, called for the free repatriation of all refugees outside South Sudan back to the country to witness the progress of the agreement and prepare for elections.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) revealed that there are over 2.3 million South Sudan refugees hosted in Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sudan as of 2024.
The report further established that at least 1.8 million South Sudanese are living in protection of civilian sites as Internationally Displaced Persons (IDPs) within camps in South Sudan, adding that 65% of the refugees are children.