UN agency urges gov’t to create stable conditions for safe return of refugees

JUBA – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is urging the government of South Sudan to create a safe and secure  environment for return home of internally displaced persons and refugees by implementing  the peace agreement.

Speaking to reporters at the UNHCR office in Juba on Thursday,  the head of the UN agency, Filippo Grandi, called on the unity government to create stable conditions for the return of refugees.

“First of all, the IDPs and refugees need security. This is still the biggest concern, and this is the responsibility of the government,” Grandi told reporters.

“I am proposing to the government and the government is very interested in it to starting to think about solutions like how can we solve, how can create conditions in this country for people to return whether they are displaced in POCs few Kilometers from home or whether they are hundreds of kilometers in  Ethiopia or Uganda,” he added.

He urged the United Nations Mission in South Sudan to join hands with the government of South Sudan to protect areas of return.

“This is the most important part we need to work on also with the help of UNMISS and the help of the peacekeepers and to make sure that areas of return or future return are particularly secure and protected,” he expressed.

“I have seen quite a number of IDPs returned. So there is a return movement. There is a peace agreement, is not perfect, is still slow in its implementation , but it is there,’ he added.