Over 505,500 South Sudan refugees return home since October 2018 : UN

(thelegitimatenews.com)

JUBA, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Some 505,511 South Sudan refugees have voluntarily returned home since October 2018 after the signing of the revitalized peace deal, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said 37 percent of the refugees have cited an improved security situation in South Sudan as the reason for their return.

The UN agency which conducted an in depth household-level survey of returnees across the country on the challenges they face and their plans said 22 percent of the refugees said they returned to unite with their families.

"From Oct 2018 to date, 505,511 spontaneous refugee returnees have arrived to South Sudan after signing of the revitalized peace agreement," UNHCR said in its latest survey.

UNHCR and partners on quarterly basis collect information on refugee returns through key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and partner monitoring reports.

Jointly with the government's Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, UNHCR said it validates the reports by interviewing randomly selected returnee households in areas of return during the period.

There are more than 2.2 million refugees from South Sudan hosted in the Eastern Africa region, and another 1.7 million displaced in the country, according to the UNHCR. ■