Africa-Press – South-Sudan. A data officer with the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) in Kapoeta East of Eastern Equatoria State, says more than 600 South Sudanese returnees arrived on foot from the Kalobeyei settlement near Kakuma in Kenya in just two weeks.
According to Mr. Lokali Daniel, a total of 668 South Sudanese returnees have arrived in Kapoeta East County over the past two weeks after walking from Kenya’s Kakuma and Kalobeyei refugee settlements,
“The number of people arriving from Kakuma and Kalobeyei refugee settlements is increasing every day. If you add last week’s and this week’s arrivals, the total is 668 so far, not including today’s figures,” he said.
Daniel urged the national government to coordinate with its Kenyan counterpart to facilitate transportation for returnees.
“If the government can coordinate — and I believe it has a long reach — it should work with the Kenyan authorities to ensure new returnees are transported by vehicle, rather than being forced to walk,” he appealed.
He says the group, mostly from Eastern Equatoria State, had no choice but to walk the long and dangerous journey to Nadapal without adequate food, water, or supplies.
He added that due to the absence of a temporary reception center at Nadapal, returnees were forced to continue directly to their home areas without receiving any form of immediate humanitarian aid.
He appealed to the United Nations and other humanitarian partners to step in and establish a temporary reception facility in Nadapal to address the urgent needs of incoming returnees.
“They leave because when they come here, they are stranded there. Sometimes the migration officers, sometimes they do contribute only to them. In fact, those high contributions — although they might not be enough for those people — because although they are coming in good numbers, they come in large numbers,” he said.
The RRC official said that the growing number of returnees calls for urgent need for coordinated humanitarian and logistical support to ensure a safe and dignified reintegration process.
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