Over 4 million South Sudanese refugees face expulsion from neighboring countries — VP Garang

JUBA — More than 4.5 million South Sudanese refugees seeking refuge in neighboring countries face expulsion over food row with the United Nations’s food agency, World Food Program (WFP), according to a top government official.

South Sudan’s Vice President for Gender and Youth Cluster, Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior said South Sudanese refugees will be expelled next year from neighboring countries.

“We have also been pressured by our host countries who are hosting our refugees. By next year, they don’t want to see our people in their countries and I want you the governors to know this,” Nyandeng said during the opening of the governor’s forum in Juba yesterday.

Nyandeng said the government is going to form a committee comprised of government officials, UN Refugees Agency, and other partners to start the repatriation and integration of refugees seeking refuge in neighboring countries.

“We will prepare ourselves next year so that there is a committee which will be formed by us, UNHCR, and all our partners so that we can visit those host countries where our refugees are. We will prepare for them and this time we want dignified settlement for our people so that they don’t continue looking into refugees countries for refuge,” she said.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, there are about 4.5 million displaced people from South Sudan seeking refuge in Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, and Ethiopia.

The refugees were displaced following the outbreak of December 2013, a brutal conflict that has claimed thousands of lives.