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A group of 200 South Sudanese stranded in Sudan’s White Nile State has begun its journey home to Western Bahr el Ghazal under an initiative supporting the voluntary return of displaced citizens.

The group departed Al-Jamia camp in Kosti on Thursday and is part of an estimated 600 South Sudanese from Western Bahr el Ghazal currently stranded in the area.

The Head of the Initiative to Repatriate Returnees from Sudan, Divad Lowrance Ambros, said donations were mobilized to facilitate the first group’s return to South Sudan.

“There are citizens from Western Bahr el Ghazal State stranded in the Sudanese city of Kosti in a camp called Al-Jamia, where they continue to suffer from rain, hunger, and mismanagement,” Ambros said.

He said the initiative registered about 600 South Sudanese in the camp and managed to raise enough funds to transport the first 200 returnees to South Sudan.

“We collected donations to transport them to South Sudan and managed to raise the funds to transport 200 people, the first group, who are now on their way from Kosti to Renk,” he said.

The returnees are travelling by road through Renk and Malakal to Wau, in Western Bahr el Ghazal, and are expected to arrive within about two weeks.

Ambros said the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs had pledged support for the returnees’ onward transportation from Renk through Malakal to Wau.

He appealed to national and international humanitarian organisations, donors, businesses and philanthropists to support the returnees with food, plastic sheeting and other essential supplies, particularly during the rainy season.

“Although it is the rainy season, they need plastic sheeting, food, and some other necessities,” Ambros said.

He also said the initiative plans to assist the remaining South Sudanese in Kosti and other camps and gathering points in Sudan to return home safely and with dignity.

Ambros said the returnees are subject to a 30-kilogram luggage limit, making additional humanitarian assistance important as they make the journey home.