‘Solutions must be found’ for millions displaced from Sudan and South Sudan: UNHCR chief
Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - Finding solutions based on peace and development is crucial for the future of the nearly seven million forcibly displaced people from Sudan and South Sudan, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said following a three-day visit to the two countries.
During the trip, Mr. Grandi met Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir where they discussed how the two countries can work together to help their displaced populations.
“Returning home is one solution but it is not the only one,” the High Commissioner said. If someone chooses to remain displaced, the initiative must ensure “they can do so with dignity and sense of belonging”, he added.
A UN statement noted that after the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan signed the Revitalised Peace Agreement in 2018, close to 300,000 South Sudanese refugees spontaneously returned, with over one million more displaced inside the country also going back to their homes.
In June, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Nicholas Haysom, who also heads the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), warned that pervasive insecurity – in particular intercommunal violence – continues to obstruct the realisation of a durable and sustainable peace and nearly three years later, many of the requirements of the Revitalised Agreement have not been met.
Concluding his visit, Mr. Grandi urged continued support for the initiative, which aims to find lasting solutions for refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs), returnees and host communities through reform, political transformation, security, development and national reconciliation.
“This initiative is a unique opportunity to place the respective Governments and displaced people at the center of planning for the future and so, it will require concerted efforts to ensure their sustained stability and security,” he said.
-0- PANA MA 26Aug2021
