A South Sudanese bishop is confident that it is possible for refugees to return home if the transitional government creates conducive conditions for their return.
Bishop Alex Lodiong Sakor, the Catholic Bishop of Yei Diocese, made a pastoral visit recently to the South Sudanese refugee camps in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj in Yei town on Thursday upon his return, Bishop Lodiong said: “The preparation must be done first by the government of South Sudan since we say there is already peace in the country.”
The religious leader pointed out that the refugees in camps in the Democratic Republic of Congo are reluctant to consider returning home due to a lack of clear plans for their return.
‘’Many of them are having the urge to return, but they expressed some reservations because those who tried to come back voluntarily met a lot of challenges on the road, and as a result, the rest got discouraged,” Lodiong said.
“Those who were interested in coming back got scared of the roadblocks, and some said clearly that, they are asked, where are the rebels? You cannot ask a refugee who is trying to come home those questions,” he added.
The catholic bishop appealed to the government to come up with a program to rehabilitate schools and hospitals and ensure that there is security when the refugees come back to their areas of origin.
“We cannot tell our people to return when their places are not okay. They come back to be where? Their schools and health centres are still in the bushes, and some of their homes are already destroyed. It is the government’s responsibility to make sure that if you want people to come back, let the places be prepared, let there be security in those areas,” he stressed.
Bishop Lodiong also called on international partners to support the government in creating conducive conditions for refugees’ return to the country.
South Sudan’s refugee crisis remains the largest in Africa, with over 2.3 million South Sudanese refugees in neighbouring countries.
In February 2020, President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar called on refugees in neighbouring countries to return home and vowed to provide all kinds of support to resettle them.
This came after the presidency established under the revitalized peace agreement held its inaugural meeting in the capital Juba.