At least 2,000 households in Lotimor Payam of Kapoeta East County in Eastern Equatoria State are in dire need of humanitarian aid after being forcefully repatriated back home from Wawa Refugee Camp in Ethiopia by authorities there.
Two months ago, youths suspected to be from Lotimor Payam allegedly raided 45 head of cattle and killed an Ethiopian policeman in the Wawa area of Ethiopia, and brought his gun back to South Sudan.
The Ethiopian authorities then gave the South Sudanese refugee community an ultimatum to return the stolen cattle and the gun or be expelled.
The Executive Director for Kapoeta East Justine Juma, told Radio Tamazuj that an assessment was carried out a week ago and it was discovered that there are nearly 2000 households in dire need of humanitarian aid.
“We have a problem in Lotimor, two months ago, our people caused a problem in a place called Wawa in Ethiopia. They killed a policeman and raided 45 cows. The Ethiopian government had given them a warning to return the cows and the gun but the criminals did not return these things so the government of Ethiopia chased the civilians who were there in the refugee camps,” Juma said.
The local official said that the expelled refugees have since received some food from the World Food Programme (WFP) but that they need shelter and other essential items to start a new life.
He added, “Two weeks ago, we went with the (WFP) to make an assessment and it was discovered 500 households had been forced back, but last week the area member of parliament went again with WFP to the area and they found the number had increased to 1962 households. WFP gave them food but the people are staying without plastic sheets, no saucepans for cooking and they are suffering.”
Juma assures Ethiopian authorities that the raided cattle and the gun will be returned and investigations are going on.
“Our chiefs are now working on the matter so that those things can be returned,” Juma said. “My message to the Ethiopians is that we are sorry, we are one people. If there is a problem of criminals, we as the governments can handle such matters but these innocent people should not be chased because they are refugees staying there innocently."
The secretary-general of the now-defunct Kapoeta State, David Eriga, confirmed the forceful return of refugees from Ethiopia’s Wawa region but said the relationship between Ethiopia and South Sudan remains cordial. He urges the locals to be good neighbors by avoiding criminal activities across the border.
“Well, our relationship with Ethiopia remains cordial and some of those people still get some services from there, like medical. My message is let us be good neighbors because we get some services,” Eriga said.
According to Eriga, the incident is an isolated one carried out by a few criminals who will be arrested.
The chairperson for Civil Society Network in Eastern Equatoria State (CSNEES), Charles Okullu, who doubles as the head of a local Community-based organization, Peace Link Foundation, said it was both governments’ responsibility to find solutions to such issues before it gets out of hand.
“It is the responsibility of both authorities to make sure the issue is handled in a better way through ethical investigations and finding out what happened. But when they resort to subjecting everybody, including innocent civilians to such kind of situation it tells us that there is no law to handle these kinds of situations,” Okullu stressed.
Ethiopian authorities were not immediately available for comment.