CES launches projects for voluntary repatriation
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The government of Central Equatoria State has launched projects for the voluntary repatriation of citizens displaced by the conflict.
The armed conflict that erupted in Juba in 2016 and quickly spread to all parts of the country, forcing half of the population to flee to neighbouring countries, had displaced most people in CES, particularly in Kajo-Keji and Yei River counties.
Addressing the press yesterday, CES State Minister of Information, Andraga Severino Mabe, said the project was initiated by the government with support from the development partners such as UNICEF, UNMISS, IOM, and UNDP that are implementing community impact projects.
“In relations with NGOs, our government launched a strategic plan designed by our governor. We have a partnership with those supporting the state government in physical development. As I talk, the deputy governor has led a ministerial delegation to Yei, ” he said.
“They are to launch the operationalisation of projects to encourage the return of people to their places of origin. We cannot do [this] alone but in partnership with other organisations,” Andraga explained.
Andraga said the projects to be implemented include rural cooperative development to encourage the return and to have access to life amenities at a subsidised or affordable price.
Plans in place
Andraga said, “You need many things, and in cooperatives, you can get them subsidised and you get it at an affordable price because if they are left on their chests, the market will be very expensive for a returnee or someone who has lost everything.”
“In information, we are launching what is called a community information system, or community radio. For example, you will know what is happening, where a person is coming from or returning from exile. You will hear his voice and where he is going, and you will see where he is going, ” he added.
The minister said it was important to establish radio programmes to coordinate their activities.
Other projects include water and sanitation, with the improved water system and the dissemination of the peace agreement to the returnees.
“You know, some of them are coming as returnees and do not know what this peace agreement is all about. The text of the agreement will be carried to the grassroots through those mechanisms that are placed at the rural development centres, where they will get the document and there will be an activist to explain to them the meaning of the revitalised agreement, ” Andraga stressed.
Sarah Nene, the Deputy Governor of Central Equatoria State, is in Yei River County to encourage the return of communities to their respective places of origin.
However, since the signing of the revitalised peace agreement in 2018, relative calm has returned to the country, including Central Equatoria State, making it possible for some refugees and IDPs to return home.