South Sudanese face a long trek home after war

As prospects for peace improve in war-torn South Sudan, displaced communities are embarking on a long journey home. 

After two years of living in encampments, many are enthusiastic about getting home to rebuild their lives. 

This change is the result of a peace accord reached in August last year to end two years of bloody civil war between President Salva Kiir’s government and rebels led by former vice president Riek Machar. 

For returnees, transport is a huge problem – many cannot afford the fare to return home, with some needing to travel hundreds of kilometers. 

The country’s devaluation of its currency in December last year, raising the price of fuel from six South Sudanese pounds ($0.98) to 22 ($3.50) means the fare has more than tripled. 

Now, hundreds of thousands who fled the civil war are risking their lives by taking very long and challenging journeys to return home. 

Yar Mayen sits in a small boat on the River Nile in Juba as she begins the journey to her home state of Jonglei, 196 kilometers [121 miles] away. 

Living in a settlement for internally displaced people in Kiryandongo, Uganda, Yar, a mother of four, arrived in the South Sudanese capital last week. 

Her boat will take her all the way to South Sudan’s northern regions, but she is banking on providence to provide her safety along the way. 

“I left my home because I was so traumatized after I lost my child during the 2014 mass killing in Bor,” Yar tells Anadolu Agency. 

Like Yar, many displaced people are struggling, some penniless, to get back to their homes. 

The country suffered a bloody crisis in mid-December 2013, instigated by political infighting among the ruling SPLM party. 

Taking on a violent nature in the capital Juba, the conflict subsequently became centered on the greater Upper Nile region. 

Tens of thousands of people died and two million have displaced, the UN and aid agencies have said. 

The towns of Bentiu in Unity State, Malakal in Upper Nile and Bor in Jonglei were centers of gross human rights abuses in 2014, with hundreds of women, children, the elderly and sick being murdered in their homes, hospitals and churches. 

At the main hospital in Bor alone, 127 sick people were shot dead, some in their beds, in Feb. 2014, while in April that year, 400 were killed in Bentiu town. 

After on-and-off peace talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, the warring parties reached an agreement in August last year. 

The agreement says that President Kiir remains at the country’s helm, deputized by Machar. 

The transitional government is soon to take shape, with parties already agreeing on the ministerial structures. 

This came as a huge relief to Yar. 

“When I heard that rebels have reconciled with the government of South Sudan, I shed tears of joy,” she said. 

Crowded in the boat with more than 10 other people, Yar said she chose this means of transport because she lacked the money to go by road. 

Travelling by road from Juba to Bor, one pays 300 pounds for a Land Cruiser, 250 pounds for a pickup truck and 200 pounds for a bus. 

For Yar, with three children, she would need to have a minimum of 1,000 pounds – an amount she cannot afford. 

“I had to go for water transportation because it’s cheap and I only paid 300 pounds for four of us, plus my luggage,” Yar says. 

The economic problem in the country is proving an obstacle to repatriations, South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission Deputy Chairperson Martha Nyamal Choat told Anadolu Agency. 

“It’s big work and it will involve many actors, such as the UNHCR, ICRC … all these require huge budgets and we will do it with the collaboration with the international community, particularly the U.S., Norway and the U.K.,” Choat said. 

Ahmed Warsame, UNHCR representative in South Sudan, said the repatriation would be large and complex because of the total absence of infrastructure in the country. Insecurity in some regions would further complicate matters. 

“We believe this will be one of the main elements to consolidate the comprehensive peace agreement and to create the conditions for the stabilization of South Sudan,” Warsame told Anadolu Agency, adding: “The challenge faced by refugees returning home is a big one.”