South Sudanese Leave Khartoum By Train

[John Ashworth]

SUDAN: South Sudanese Leave Khartoum By Train

KHARTOUM, March 02, 2012 (Catholic Information Service for Africa) -An International Organization for Migration (IOM) -assisted 60-carriage train carrying 1,400 South Sudanese returnees left Khartoum on Thursday March 01, on a 10-day journey to Aweil and Wau in the Republic of South Sudan.

This is the first train to leave Khartoum since the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan signed a memorandum of understanding in early February, which outlined a voluntary, safe and dignified return process.

There are more than half a million South Sudanese residing in the Republic of Sudan, who are required to leave the country by early next month or seek to regularize their residence status. The majority are expected to opt for eventual return to South Sudan, following the country's declaration of independence in July last year.

Most of the 1,400 passengers on the train have been living in open areas across Khartoum for more than a year, waiting for a government-assisted transportation to South Sudan.

IOM has been supporting both governments by facilitating the voluntary movement of stranded and vulnerable South Sudanese. In 2011, it helped some 23,000 South Sudanese residing in Sudan to return home by barge, train and air. The Organization also assisted 16, 500 other returnees reach their final destinations after being stranded inside South Sudan.

Once in South Sudan, the returnees will receive food, water, medical attention and shelter at the IOM transit centres in Aweil and Wau. They will also be provided with onward transportation assistance to their final destination if required.

During the month of March, IOM will continue airlift operations to Wau, Aweil and Juba, for extremely vulnerable individuals. These include elderly and disabled people, pregnant women and people with serious medical conditions, who are not fit to travel on the trains.

IOM is also working with the two governments and partners on an operational plan to manage the large-scale returns and is advocating for the extension of the April 8th deadline which is rapidly approaching. It says it is important to have enough time to organise such a large scale flow, given the logistical and infrastructure challenges.

The current train movement has been organized in partnership with Sudan's IDP Centre, the Commission for Voluntary and Humanitarian Works (CVHW), Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC), UNHCR and UNICEF. Transportation of South Sudanese from Sudan is being funded by the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).


Returnee train departs Sudan capital for newly independent south

By Associated Press, Published: March 2, Washington Post

KHARTOUM, Sudan — A 60-car train carrying 1,400 southern Sudanese stranded in the north by their homeland’s declaration of independence has left Khartoum for the south, the International Organization for Migration said Friday. The passengers are among hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants expected to make the arduous journey in the months ahead.

Millions of southerners fled to northern Sudan during the 22-year war that led to South Sudan’s independence in July of last year.

Khartoum ruled after negotiations with South Sudan that all southerners living illegally in the north — an estimated 500,000 — would either regularize their status or depart for the south by April 8.

The IOM said the train departed Khartoum on Thursday. Another 500 southerners will be picked up in the town of Kosti south of Khartoum.

All told, the journey of over 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) across desert, scrubland and savannah is expected to take 10 days.

Both groups had been camped out in open lots. The IOM said the passengers were carrying a “huge amount of luggage ... including building materials, household items and personal effects — all needed to help them rebuild their lives in the South.”

The IOM says that it expects a “majority” of the half million southerners it says lives in Khartoum will opt to return.

But many southerners say privately that they hope to stay in the north. Many were born or have lived for decades in Khartoum, and say they feel cut off from the south’s traditional tribal society.

Thousands of people have moved in both directions since the war, which began in 1983, ended in 2005. The IOM says that in 2011, it helped some 23,000 South Sudanese residing in northern Sudan to return home by barge, train and air. The organization also assisted 16,500 others to depart South Sudan for various locations.