South Sudanese refugees in CAR flee violence, return home

An official in the Western Bahr el Ghazal State government has said South Sudanese refugees in the Central African Republic (CAR) are fleeing from violence there and returning home with scores arriving in Raga County.

An official in the Western Bahr el Ghazal State government has said South Sudanese refugees in the Central African Republic (CAR) are fleeing from violence there and returning home with scores arriving in Raga County.

The state’s Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) deputy chairperson, Pasquale Wana Achak, told Radio Tamazuj Thursday that more than two hundred South Sudanese refugees fleeing conflict in the Gumboti area of CAR arrived in Deim Zubeir Payam in Raga County this week.

He said that a team of humanitarian agencies, including WFP, OCHA, and UNMISS, led by the RRC is scheduled to travel from Wau to Raga County on Friday to verify the numbers of returnees.

“Our enumerator in Raja gave me the numbers of the people who arrived in Deim Zubeir from Central Africa and they are still coming in groups,” he said. “According to the information we are getting, there is insecurity there (CAR). Fortunately, the road between Central Africa and Deim Zubeir Payam has been operating for a long time.”

According to Achak, the humanitarian assessment team will take along some emergency relief items.

“I assure you that when our partners go there tomorrow (Friday) and see the situation, they will act,” he said. “They (aid agencies) always take with them emergency items and they have assured us that they will because we told them that the returnees are in urgent need of plastics sheets and other relief items.”