Officials in Kajo-Keji and Morobo Counties of Central Equatoria State say thousands of voluntary returnees from neighboring Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo need humanitarian assistance as they resettle back home.
There are currently over 8,000 voluntary returnees who have resettled in Kajo-Keji, Morobo, and Yei River Counties for the past three months.
Local officials said the returnees are finding their way back home after the establishment of the county local government structures.
Kajo-Keji County commissioner Kenyi Erestos told Radio Tamazuj that his county had received over 150 households, a total of 1,200 individuals returnees who have returned from Uganda until last month. He said they find it difficult to re-start their lives without help.
“The number of people who have returned until March can reach more than 150 households and they don’t have waiting centers but they go directly into their villages in the Payams and they don’t have something for their survival so they are vulnerable because they lost all their belongings during the past years conflict,” he said.
Taban Samuel, the Relief and Rehabilitation coordinator in Morobo County said there are over 700 returnees from neighboring Congo who arrived in the county in the last three months.
Taban said the returnees need shelter, farm tools, seeds, food, and non-food items to rebuild their livelihoods in the area.
“We have 790 households with a total population of 6,559 and the current needs of the returnees are lack of agricultural equipment such as hoes, seeds and secondly there is lack of mosquito nets, lack of clean water and mats for them to start new lives in the county,” he added.
For his part, Mabe Moses, Yei River County relief and Rehabilitation coordinator said there are more than six thousand returnees who reported from Uganda and Congo and they have reintegrated into the communities.
“We have over 6,000 returnees from Uganda and Congo for the last three months and their basic demands are food and non-food items. They have been getting assistance from their relatives back home and now that this is an agricultural season, there is a need for seeds and hoes to be given to them so that they can cultivate their food,” he pointed out.
Thousands of returnees in Yei, Morobo, and Kajo-Keji County fled the area into neighboring Uganda and Congo at the peak of the conflict in 2016. Thousands of them started coming back to their homes after the Revitalised peace agreement was signed and relative calm restored.