By Hou Akot Hou
Thousands of South Sudanese citizens returned back from Sudan after 10 day conflict in Sudan.
William Anyuon Kuol, the Minister of Information in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State told Juba Echo on Monday, that many of the arrivals are South Sudanese nationals who had been displaced by past conflicts in South Sudan.
He said the arrivals who include, Sudanese nationals fleeing conflict from South Kordofan and Darfur regions started arriving on Sunday in Jaac, Kiir-adem and Mayom-angok border areas.
“There are three entry points. There are 800 households in Jaac, 310 households in Kiir-adem and 250 households in Mayom-angok,” Kuol said.
“We have not done enough but just located them and gave them little support in terms of food assistance,” he added.
The Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Deng Dau Deng recently confirmed that more than 10,000 civilians displaced by conflict in Sudan arrived in Northern, Western Bahr El Ghazal and Upper Nile states.
Anyuon said they are in contact with humanitarian agencies to support the arrivals with water, food and medicine.
“When I talk of humanitarian partners I mean the UN agencies, international and national non-government organizations. We have contacted them to come and assist these people,” he said.
Anyuon said the rainy season is likely to exacerbate the already dire situation at the border crossing points with Sudan, where hundreds of new arrivals are being reported daily.
He said most of the arrivals in Aweil North County fled fighting between rival military factions in Southern Kordofan and Darfur regions.
Fighting erupted on April 15th between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo better known as Hemedti.
The two leaders cum rivals headed the Sudan Sovereign Council which ousted the civilian appointed Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok in October 2021.
The warring military factions disagreed over the integration period of the RSF into the national army (SAF). The RSF wanted a 10-year period for integrating it’s forces while the SAF preferred two-year period.