UNHCR says more than 357,000 South Sudanese refugees returned home in 3 years

Some 357,450 refugees from South Sudan have returned home from countries in the region since November 2017, the UN refugee agency said on Thursday.

According to the monthly update from UNHCR and the South Sudan Commission for Relief and Rehabilitation (CRR) for December 2020, some 236,764 refugees of the number returned after the signing of the revitalized peace agreement in October 2018.

The report says that the majority (61 percent) of the spontaneously returned refugees were from Sudan, while 23 percent returned from Ethiopia.

The reasons for the return and cross-border movements of the refugees according to the report include increased security in South Sudan, tickets and family visits during the festive season to attend traditional ceremonies and festivals.

The report says refugees have also cited cases of extortion, arrest and harassment by authorities in Nadapal, the Nimule border points with Kenya and Uganda as the reasons for the return to South Sudan.

The report says that refugees have also expressed fear over the current unrest in Ethiopia and anticipated unrest during and after the elections in Uganda as the reasons for their return.

South Sudan is currently implementing the revitalized 2018 peace accord that former warring parties signed in Ethiopia to end more than six years of conflict, since the outbreak in December 2013.