14 Apr 2008 - Forced to flee during Africa’s longest-running civil war, the Sudanese refugees living in International Rescue Committee-supported settlements in northern Uganda have spent as long as twenty years outside of their homeland. Their time in exile has not been peaceful - the Uganda to which the refugees fled has itself been wracked by war and unrest for nearly the same period of time, and as refugees they have faced frequent dislocation, movement, and uncertainty.
 
Repatriation became a possibility in 2005, when the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, ending Africa’s longest-running civil war. In the fall of 2006, refugees finally started returning home. At first there was wariness – refugees feared that the Sudan to which they would return would be bereft of services and job opportunities. They did not trust that the peace would hold. But what started as a trickle had by late 2007 turned into a stream, with hundreds of refugees returning on convoys that left on a biweekly basis from the refugee settlements at Ikafe and Kiryandongo. To date, over 5,500 refugees – out of 25,000 living in IRC-supported settlements – have returned and 10,000 others have registered to repatriate. To assist the returns, the IRC has prepared departure sites, conducted pre-departure medical screenings and provided refugees with food for the journey.
 
“The ones who return, do so ready to rebuild,” said IRC field coordinator Charles Sseketawa. “They know that they have a hard road ahead of them. But the IRC has supported them to study in school, to learn skilled trades and to build community structures that look after the most vulnerable. They are ready.”
 
In providing support to schools, health centers, and water and sanitation facilities in Ikafe and Kiryandongo, the IRC has helped prepare the refugees for the time when they return to Sudan and assume responsibility for service provision in their villages.
 
“We are not idle here,” said Mary Anech, a single mother of three children, teaching assistant in IRC-supported primary schools, leader of a women’s group in the settlement, and a successful businesswoman selling and repairing dresses and clothing.
 
“Every day we have two projects: making the best of things here and thinking of how we can best prepare for when we are back in Sudan.”
 
Anech was one of several community leaders from Ikafe refugee settlement who went on a “go-and-see” visit sponsored by UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, during 2006 and 2007 to assess the progress of reconstruction in Sudan and then report back to refugees in Uganda.
 
“Many refugees wanted to hear from their family members and neighbors that Sudan was OK, that it was safe to return home,” said Charles Sseketawa.
 
Complementing these preliminary visits home was a comprehensive IRC-sponsored information-sharing program through which refugees could learn the condition of schools, health facilities and other services in their home villages.
 
“We wanted to reduce the uncertainty – we empowered people with as much information as possible,” said Sseketawa.
 
IRC return monitors continue to collect information on villages in southern Sudan and share it on a regular basis with IRC Uganda staff. They are then able to give updates to refugees in Uganda so that they can make an informed decision about return.
 
As southern Sudan rebuilds after decades of war, there is high demand for skilled workers. As part of its contribution to the ongoing return and reintegration process, IRC Southern Sudan supports vocational training and apprenticeships in areas such as catering, computer skills, and wood- and metal-work for both returnees and members of the communities to which they are returning.
 
“The topics of these trainings are based on the requests of trainees while always ensuring that the skills are marketable and sustainable,” said Noah Gottschalk, the IRC’s rule of law and protection coordinator. “Most trainees have been able to find jobs after completing their courses.”
 
Other IRC activities in southern Sudan include support to primary health care centers, the drilling and rehabilitating of boreholes, and running an HIV/AIDS program which includes testing and prevention as well as treatment of the disease.
 
In addition to serving over 25,000 refugees in Ikafe and Kiryandongo, 10,000 people from Ugandan host communities have benefited from health centers, schools, and other services provided by the IRC. The IRC is working hard to ensure that the standard of the services do not deteriorate once the refugees go home, said Charles Ssketawa.
 
“In every sector in which we work, we are training local government employees to take our place,” he said. “In some cases, former IRC employees are now doing the same job they did for the IRC, but are being paid by the local government.”
 
“We have a lot of work ahead to make sure that those still in Uganda are provided for and that we help those who want to go home to do so with dignity.”

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