Residents of a displaced people’s camp in the Jonglei State capital, Bor, said they are seeking resettlement outside the camp for a better life.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, John Both Kuet, the camp’s chairperson, said they have been confined since fleeing for their lives after the outbreak of war in 2013 but that they now feel safe to resettle in Bor town where they can access services.
“We have been in the camp because of what happened in 2013. Now that there is peace in the country, I think we should be enjoying the dividends of peace by being reintegrated,” Both said. “Bor is home! We were living in Bor before the crisis.”
He said that they are engaging the government to help in resettling them because they lost everything during the war.
“Before the crisis, some people were in places like Panpadiar and areas that were not demarcated within Bor (town) and that is why we are requesting the government to provide us places so that we are reintegrated into the rest of the community,” Both said.
Another displaced people’s camp resident, Hoth Rambang, said they are suffering in the camp.
“People are tired of staying in the camp,” he bemoaned. “We are part of Jonglei so we want to be reintegrated so that we can cultivate and run businesses while not in confinement.”
For his part, Wany Bum, the spokesperson of the Jonglei State Legislative Assembly, acknowledged that the leaders of the displaced people had reached out and that the state parliament last Friday passed a resolution regarding their resettlement.
“We resolved that these people (IDPs) should be given land because they are part and parcel of the population in Jonglei,” he said. “Peace has come and it is here to stay. They are not supposed to stay in the camp because their situation is dire there so a resolution has been passed and it will be taken to the executive by the speaker.”
The Bor displaced people’s camp, formerly a UN peacekeepers-manned Protection of Civilians Site (POC), is home to about 4, 000 people who fled their homes after the eruption of civil war in 2013.