Kiir urges citizens inside POCs to return home

JUBA – South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit has called on citizens seeking safety at IDP camps across the world’s youngest country to return home and start rebuilding their lives after almost 9 years of displacement.

Kiir made the call during a meeting in Juba on Wednesday with community chiefs from the former POCs in the capital Juba who were accompanied by former minister of humanitarian affairs and disaster management James Kok Ruei.

“His Excellency President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Wednesday met in his Office with the traditional Chiefs and elders that are responsible for the Internal Displaced Persons at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Protection of Civilians Sites (POCs) in Juba,” the presidency said in a statement following the meeting.

Kiir in his remarks during the meeting urged the community chiefs to mobilize their people across the many camps in the country to return to their home, saying the government will provide a land in Central Equatoria State for the IDP to resettle in.

“You are all my people, the problem that I have not been meeting you is because you decided to lock yourself inside the POCs,” Kiir said.

“I urge you to come out of POCs and find settlement so that you can build your lives and raise your families. Go and tell those that are still hiding in the camps that you have met Salva Kiir and he is ready to welcome and meet you anytime,” the president added.

According to the presidency statement, the community chiefs told the president that the “have observed that the peace is holding and there are no insecurities” and therefore expressed their readiness “to relocate from POCs to a designated area (land) in Central Equatoria State for settlement.”