Khartoum says south Sudan safe for refugee return

By Daniel Wallis

KAMPALA (Reuters) – Southern Sudan is at peace and refugees
should not be scared of returning home, despite two attacks by
gunmen on United Nations compounds there this month, a Sudanese
government official said on Monday.

Khartoum’s state interior minister Brig. Aleu Avieny Aleu
said the estimated 200,000 Sudanese refugees in Uganda should
not fear the cult-like Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, who
are Ugandan but have long used hideouts in southern Sudan.

“They are not affecting you when you go home, and they
should not be the reason for you not to go home,” he said in
the Ugandan capital Kampala. “You will be protected.”

Aleu was signing an agreement with Ugandan authorities and
the U.N. refugee agency that sets up a legal framework for the
first voluntary repatriations of Sudanese who fled to Uganda.

But those moves have been put on hold after the violence.

The March 19 attack on the U.N. site in Yambio, which
officials say was most likely carried out by the LRA, injured
two Bangladeshi U.N. troops and triggered the first deadly
exchange of fire by the peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan.

On Monday, UNHCR director of Sudanese operations Jean-Marie
Fakhouri told reporters the raid the week before on the UNHCR
compound in Yei — which killed a guard — was the work of
robbers striking he called a “juicy target.”

PLANES, TRUCKS READY

His U.N. agency had been preparing for the return of
hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees from surrounding
countries after a peace deal between the government and
southern rebels in January 2005 that ended more than two
decades of war.

“I am committed to starting the (repatriation) operation
again in the blink of an eye,” Fakhouri said.

“We are ready. The planes are there. The trucks are there
to start on April 3 or 4. But we do need to ensure things are
much better on the ground… We cannot compromise on security.”

Repatriations of Sudanese from Central African Republic
began in early February, while the same program was supposed to
start in Democratic Republic of Congo last week, but was
delayed after the fresh violence in Yambio and Yei.

Voluntary returns from Uganda had been due to begin next
week. The repatriation of Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia is not
affected by the suspension and is due to start on Friday.