Feb
20,
2007
(JUBA)
—
Hundreds
of
displaced
Sudanese
Dinka
Bor
people
are
returning
from
Equatoria
region
to
Jonglei
State,
but
many
are
scared
that
resettling
on
land
they
last
saw
15
years
ago
will
be
a
daunting
task.
"I
have
wanted
to
go
back
home
for
three
years
now,
but
I
have
nobody
[there]
that
I
know,"
Debora
Aker
said
aboard
a
barge
hired
to
take
the
returnees
down
the
muddy
River
Nile.
"I
am
afraid
how
I
will
establish
myself,
build
a
shelter
and
cultivate
in
time
for
the
rains."
Saying
she
would
rather
stay
in
or
near
Bor
town
than
in
her
original
village,
Aker
hoped
a
three-month
food
supply
promised
by
aid
agencies
would
help
her
establish
herself.
"Life
is
getting
harder
for
me
now,"
the
50-year-old
added.
Unlike
Aker,
24-year-old
Michael
Dut’s
worry
was
to
find
a
job
in
Bor
County.
"If
I
had
the
power
I
would
not
go
to
the
cattle
camp
[traditional
semi-nomadic
herding
camps];
life
is
about
schooling,"
he
said,
referring
to
the
fact
that
he
spent
some
of
his
time
in
Equatoria
region
attending
school.
"I
want
to
see
my
area,
but
because
of
the
fighting,
I
don’t
think
there
will
be
any
development.
If
I
do
not
find
a
job
there,
I
will
come
back
to
Juba
[capital
of
southern
Sudan],"
he
told
IRIN.
Another
returnee,
Dhieu
Akoi,
20,
felt
he
should
have
stayed
in
Juba
instead.
"Juba
is
the
best
place
to
be,
there
are
even
many
secondary
schools
there,"
he
said,
as
the
barge
rocked
on
the
water.
"Of
course
I
am
frightened
about
what
I
will
find."
Like
Dut,
he
hoped
to
find
a
job
in
Bor
town.
However,
he
would
first
go
back
to
his
village
to
collect
food
and
non-food
items
from
non-governmental
organisations
that
support
returnees
in
Bor
County.
They
were
among
hundreds
of
returnees
being
supported
by
the
United
Nations,
the
International
Organization
for
Migration
(IOM),
Sudanese
authorities
and
other
partners
under
a
multi-agency
programme
to
get
the
Dinka
Bor
back
home.
They
travelled
for
two
days
from
2
February,
on
the
second
returnee
trip
this
year.
The
first,
in
January,
returned
225
Dinka
Bors
and
another
is
planned
for
300
people
in
February.
Ambitious
plans
Most
of
the
Dinka
on
the
barge
fled
their
homes
after
the
Bor
massacre
in
1991
when
Amnesty
International
estimates
2,000
lives
were
lost.
The
massacre
occurred
after
a
faction
led
by
Nuer
leader,
Riek
Machar,
who
is
now
the
southern
government’s
Vice-President,
defected
from
the
southern
Sudan
Peoples
Liberation
Army.
In
ensuing
battles,
Machar’s
troops
raided
the
Bor
area,
forcing
thousands
of
civilians
to
flee
south
to
Equatoria
region.
"My
brother
died,
my
husband
died.
Many
others
died
of
hunger
when
they
ran
away,"
Aker,
who
still
vividly
remembers
the
events,
said.
According
to
the
IOM,
the
barge
will
rotate
between
Juba
and
Bor
County
until
all
the
10,000
internally
displaced
Dinka
Bor
people
living
in
Equatoria
region
of
southern
Sudan
are
back
in
Jonglei
State.
The
returns
are
part
of
a
wider
national
effort
to
encourage
displaced
people
to
return
home.
"We
are
planning
to
assist
605,000
returnees
this
year,
both
IDPs
[internally
displaced
persons]
and
refugees,"
said
Evereste
Karambizi
of
the
UN
’Triple
R’
(return,
reintegration
and
reconstruction)
coordination
body.
Using
projections
from
2006,
Triple
R
also
estimates
there
will
be
305,000
’spontaneous’
returns
-
returnees
using
their
own
means.
These
will
receive
assistance
in
the
form
of
UN-supported
way
stations
along
the
way
and
the
three-month
food
package
at
their
final
destination.
UN
agencies
and
the
IOM
will
be
supporting
government
efforts
to
take
150,000
people
from
Khartoum
and
surrounding
areas
to
the
south
(including
some
to
the
northern
transitional
areas,
between
north
and
south).
Another
13,000
are
to
be
given
direct
assistance
and
returned
from
war-torn
Darfur
to
Northern
Bahr
el
Ghazal
State;
while
10,000
will
move
from
Western
Bahr
el
Ghazal
to
Warrap
State
to
add
to
the
10,000
displaced
in
Equatoria,
who
will
be
helped
to
return
to
Bor
and
the
rest
of
Jonglei.
David
Gressley,
the
UN
Humanitarian
Coordinator
for
southern
Sudan,
said
the
plans
were
feasible
-
several
important
roads
will
be
newly
usable
in
2007,
and
the
return
process
will
have
US$150
million
at
its
disposal.
"From
the
beginning
we
knew
people
wanted
to
come
home,
and
we’ve
been
gearing
up
to
help,"
he
explained.
"This
means
providing
registration
services,
information
about
the
place
of
return,
vaccinations,
way
stations,
non-food
items
and
food
for
the
returnees."
Census
factor
Simon
Kun,
head
of
the
government
of
southern
Sudan’s
humanitarian
wing,
the
South
Sudan
Relief
and
Rehabilitation
Commission,
said
the
return
process
would
be
much
better
organised
this
year.
In
2006,
IOM
largely
targeted
spontaneous
returnees
needing
assistance
during
their
journey.
Kun
is
frank
about
the
leading
reason
for
the
huge
increase
in
efforts
to
bring
people
home
to
the
south
-
the
national
census
planned
for
November
2007,
which
is
expected
to
have
a
significant
impact
on
expectations
and
planning
for
national
elections
in
2009.
"We
are
bringing
people
back
for
the
census;
if
we
had
the
resources
we
would
increase
the
number,"
said
Kun.
He
cited
poverty,
and
political
and
religious
pressures
on
the
estimated
two
million
southerners
in
Khartoum,
as
good
reasons
to
increase
efforts
to
bring
them
back
south.
However,
while
southern
politicians
do
not
underestimate
the
importance
of
getting
numbers
back
in
time
for
the
census,
UN
authorities
insist
they
are
not
being
’pressured’
by
the
census.
"The
pressure
is
twofold,"
explained
Louis
Hoffman,
head
of
IOM
in
southern
Sudan.
"The
bigger
pressure
is
not
the
census
and
the
government
of
southern
Sudan,
but
that
a
large
number
of
people
want
to
come
back.
And
people
are
coming."
A
multi-agency
survey
of
the
intentions
of
the
displaced
in
northern
Sudan
in
2005
showed
that
67
percent
said
they
would
return
to
the
south
and
transitional
areas,
22
percent
would
remain
in
the
north
and
11
percent
were
undecided.
Urban
distraction
While
the
returns
are
expected
to
pick
up,
leaders
in
southern
Sudan
are
concerned
that
the
returnees
are
unhappy
to
go
back
to
a
rural
life,
preferring
instead
the
lure
of
towns
such
as
Juba.
"Last
year,
we
brought
back
3,000
people
ourselves,"
Nyandeng
Malek,
deputy
governor
of
Warrap
State,
told
a
January
conference
of
southern
governors
in
Juba.
"We
provided
transport
but
about
2,000
of
these
people
walked
back
to
Khartoum.
Those
who
remained
are
the
most
miserable
you
can
imagine."
Some
of
the
returnees,
he
added,
were
collecting
around
urban
areas
in
Warrap
because
there
were
some
social
services.
"Money
should
be
spent
on
services
and
not
on
transporting
people;
they
will
be
attracted
back,"
he
added.
"Without
services,
people
will
get
discouraged
[from
returning].
We
may
lose
twice;
we
will
lose
people
for
the
census
and
we
will
have
lost
the
money."
But
the
pull
to
urban
areas
is
one
that
politicians
at
state
as
well
as
central
levels
are
trying
to
discourage.
"We
need
to
encourage
people
to
come
back
because
we
are
going
to
have
our
census
and
to
participate
in
development.
Our
policy
is
to
encourage
people
to
stay
in
the
rural
areas,"
explained
the
Commissioner
for
Juba
County,
Peter
Jerkins
Jaden.
While
he
agreed
that
returnees
would
be
attracted
to
Juba
because
of
a
lack
of
services
elsewhere
in
his
county,
Jaden
insisted
that
the
southern
Sudanese
motto
to
’take
the
towns
to
the
people’
in
terms
of
services
was
one
he
would
stand
by.
Brief
window
Whether
southern
Sudan
is
ready
to
receive
the
thousands
of
assisted
returnees
or
not,
time
is
running
out
for
safe
travel
this
year.
Both
Kun
and
Hoffman
concur
that
time
has
been
lost
because
the
dry
season
is
already
into
its
third
month.
Those
arriving
during
or
after
the
rains
will
miss
planting
time.
"There
is
the
practical
factor
of
the
seasons
to
bear
in
mind
here,"
said
Hoffman.
"Really
we
only
have
a
four-month
window."
While
the
rains
may
affect
operations,
the
Minister
for
Humanitarian
Affairs,
Kosti
Manibe,
insisted
in
January
that
the
government
would
assist
returnees
even
during
the
rains
"or
else
we
will
not
get
enough.
This
is
a
sacrifice
people
will
have
to
make
if
they
want
to
be
counted
in
the
census,"
said
Kosti.
A
humanitarian
official
who
preferred
to
remain
anonymous
said
none
of
the
counties
in
southern
Sudan
was
up
to
minimal
international
standards
in
terms
of
social
services
-
in
education,
water
or
health
services,
and
would
not
be
in
the
near-
or
medium-term.
For
example,
it
could
take
up
to
15
years
to
drill
the
estimated
20,000
boreholes
needed
in
southern
Sudan,
in
the
absence
of
other
water
supply
options.
On
the
barge,
300
Dinka
Bor
returnees
whiled
away
the
time,
often
bursting
into
religious
song.
A
woman
who
had
only
been
away
from
Bor
County
for
two
years
spat
into
the
slow-moving
River
Nile
as
she
described
her
home.
"There
is
nothing
there,"
she
said.
Source
:
IRIN
