UN refugee agency suspends repatriation operations in south Sudan after attacks

The United Nations refugee agency today expanded its suspension of repatriation operations in southern Sudan after a recent spate of armed attacks and is temporarily relocating staff from certain areas where they were preparing for the return of hundreds of thousands of Sudanese who fled a two-decade-long civil war.

“We are sending three people on mission today from Geneva to assess the security situation in the repatriation areas of South Sudan, and to evaluate the measures needed to ensure the security and safety of our staff,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told a news briefing in Geneva.

The agency, which last week suspended repatriation from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to the Yei region after gunmen attacked its compound there, killing a local guard and critically wounding an international staff member and another guard, expanded the suspension to the Yambio, Kajo Keji and Tambura areas.

“Our international staff working in these locations in Central and Western Equatoria have been relocated or are in the process of being relocated to other areas in south Sudan for two weeks,” Ms. Pagonis said.

The suspension, which also extended to returnees from the Central African Republic (CAR) and Uganda, was ordered after heavy fighting in Yambio on Saturday night near the compound of a non-governmental organization (NGO). The Sudanese People Liberation Army (SPLA) intervened and scattered the armed groups.

Even though UNHCR staff were not directly targeted the decision was taken “in view of the extremely volatile situation.” Other humanitarian agencies have also relocated from Yambio.

There are 350,000 refugees from South Sudan in neighbouring countries and some 4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) as a result of the 21-year civil war between the Government and southern rebels which ended with a peace accord 14 months ago.

Since then UNHCR, along with other UN agencies and non-governmental organizations, has been working to prepare for both the returnees and IDPs. It has built or rebuilt schools, hospitals, vocational training centres and water points to help entire communities, not just the returnees themselves.

In another refugee crisis in neighbouring Chad, which already shelters 200,000 Sudanese from a separate conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region, UNHCR has begun screening and registering some 2,600 recent arrivals who have fled fighting in northern CAR.

Since the beginning of the year, 7,000 refugees from have fled unrest in CAR to south Chad, bringing the total number to 46,000.