South Sudan begins integration of returnees

JUBA – South Sudan’s Minister of Interior, Angelina Teny, announced on Monday that the government has begun integrating returnees from Sudan into their communities across the country.

Speaking to journalists at Juba International Airport upon her return from Geneva, Teny explained that the integration process aims to help returnees rebuild their lives.

“Instead of keeping them in isolation in camps, the idea is to integrate them into host communities, and host communities also become beneficiaries,” Teny said.

She highlighted that returnees in Ruweng and Upper Nile states have already been successfully integrated into their communities and have begun farming.

“We have done this integration in some places. For example, in the Ruweng area in Jamjam, refugee camps, you will find that the host communities, as well as the refugees, are living together,” Teny stated.

“They are cultivating together, and so on. That approach now is being looked at, and for that example, we want to use it elsewhere. Like in Western Equatoria, we have camps there,” Teny added.

Teny also noted that many urban refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) will be integrated into their communities.

“But also already, in our cities, there are many urban refugees and IDPs. They are included, because they enter into the normal schools. They are not segregated against,” she said.

Integrating returnees will allow them to travel and move freely within the country, Teny added.

“They use the same health services, which is not the case in many other countries. Despite the fact that we have challenges, actually, we have done better than most countries who actually have resources,” she said.

“So we have been integrating so that we have been allowed to travel and move freely in the country,” she said.

Teny emphasized that the government is working on long-term solutions for IDPs, including durable solutions that will address the root causes of displacement.