AFRICA/SUDAN - Agreement for the repatriation of Sudanese refugees from Kenya. “We welcome such agreements but these returnees need infrastructures. In much of the area the only schools and medical centres are those opened and run by Catholics” say missionaries in Sudan

Khartoum (Fides Service)- “The situation of Sudanese refugees who return to southern Sudan is still very precarious and it is too early to express an opinion with regard to agreements with hosting countries for their repatriation” said a Comboni missionary in southern Sudan. “Many who return to their villages of origin to find there are no homes or basic infrastructures like schools and medical centres, decide to go back to the refugee camp” he explained.
“In much of southern Sudan the only schools and healthcare centres are those opened and run by Catholics” the missionary said. “Since the peace agreement was signed we have been planning ways to increase our presence here in the poorest and most neglected areas of the country”.
The return of Sudanese refugees should be fostered by an agreement reached on 12 January by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and the governments of Sudan and Kenya which established the roles and obligations of each of the three parts to assist the repatriation of Sudanese refugees who have received protection in Kenya for the past 14 years.
“This milestone agreement in the repatriation process is the first of seven three-party agreements which UNHCR hopes to sign with countries bordering Sudan” a UNHCR statement affirms. The agreements will facilitate and organise operations to repatriate about 70,000 refugees to southern Sudan in the first six months of 2006. About 10,000 of these may return autonomously from Kenya alone. It is significant that the first of these agreements is with Kenya, a country which played a crucial part in the peace process in Sudan culminating with the stipulation - on 9 January 2005 in Nairobi - Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), ending 21 years of civil war between North and Southern Sudan.
UNHCR hopes to help 70,000 refugees repatriate before the start of the rain season, May/June. Circa 550,000 Sudanese refugees are exiled in countries bordering with Sudan and over 5 million Sudanese are displaced in their own country. UNHCR estimates that last year between 70,000 and 80,000 refugees returned to southern Sudan autonomously.
Sudan has promised to guarantee conditions of security and dignity for the repatriation of its people; for its part Kenya said it will continue to protect the rights of those refugees who decide to remain in Kenya at least for the moment.
UNHCR expects to sign a similar agreement with Democratic Republic of Congo at the end of January and one with the Central African Republic immediately afterwards. It is engaged in talks with Uganda and Ethiopia where about 14,000 Sudanese refugees - out of a total 73,000 distributed in 5 camps - have asked UNHCR to be repatriated immediately. The principle countries offering asylum to refugees from Southern Sudan are: Uganda (204,400), Ethiopia (73,400), Democratic Congo (69,400), Kenya (74,000), Central African Republic (36,000) and Egypt (30,324). (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 16/1/2006 righe 47 parole 589)