About 1,340 returnees in the Alali area of Akobo County, Jonglei State, remain without food and access to basic healthcare services, a month after they arrived from the Pinyudo refugee camp in Ethiopia.  

The returnees, mainly women and children, started arriving there in April 2021. 

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj over the weekend, the returnees said they have lacked food, health services, and clean drinking water since their arrival, and called on the government and aid agencies operating in the country to come to their aid. 

“We arrived yesterday (Friday) from Pinyudo refugee camp in Ethiopia. We are about 60 people. It took us four days to get here on foot. The problem now as we arrive here is that there is no adequate food, no health facilities, and no access to clean drinking water because there is only one borehole,” Anyango Aballa, one of the returnees said.

Anyango, a mother of six, said she preferred returning home after spending years as a refugee because of the relative peace ushered in by the revitalized peace agreement. 

“Many people are still coming because life in a camp is not easy. But as we arrived here, there are no healthcare facilities and schools for our children. So, we want to be supported as we resettle,” she added. 

Another returnee, Ojaga Ojuk, said, “Our humanitarian situation is dire. Women and children are suffering because getting food as a returnee is not easy. Even water is a big issue for us because there are not enough boreholes.”

For his part, Philip Omot Jook, a community leader in the area, said 402 households started arriving in Alali Payam in April and that the returnees are in desperate need of food, shelter, life-saving drugs, and clean water. 

The Alali Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) coordinator, Samuel Metho Akway, also decried the dire humanitarian situation of the over 1,300 returnees and earnestly pleaded with the government and aid agencies in the country for urgent humanitarian intervention.