A member of the defunct Ruweng State Legislative Assembly, Arop Kok Kiir who recently visited Khartoum - credit | Eye Radio | Lou Nelson - Sept. 17, 2021

Over 30,000 South Sudanese refugees in Sudan have volunteered to return home in the Ruweng Administrative area.

This is according to a member of the defunct Ruweng State Legislative Assembly, Arop Kok Kiir who recently visited Khartoum, Sudan.

He said most of the refugees who mainly hail from the Ruweng are living in deplorable situations in Sudan and Egypt are willing to return home.

Arop stated that Authorities in Ruweng have already reached an agreement with the Embassy of South Sudan in Khartoum to work in coordination with UNHCR and IOM to repatriate those willing to return home.

He added that he spoke to the refugees and they have agreed to voluntarily return to Ruweng.

“I took it upon myself to talk to my people of Ruweng living in Khartoum and the surrounding areas to come back such that all of us will participate in developmental activities and Agriculture because agriculture itself is development,” Arop said.

Arop said they have already registered more than 35,000 refugees so far.

“Our people have agreed that they want to return to their country, for that reason we started registering those who want to return and in the first face we registered 35,000 that are ready,” Arop told Eye Radio on Friday.

“Our committee members are now moving to other parts of Sudan to do the same that was after all of us agreed that they should return back.”

“We actually agreed with the South Sudanese Embassy in Sudan, UNHCR and IOM in Khartoum to facilitate the return of our people.”

“Our state government [Administrative area] will now take responsibility for receiving these people and giving them land to live on and securing their security. Their repatriation will be the sole responsibility of the UNHCR and IOM in Khartoum.”

According to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, Sudan hosts the largest South Sudanese refugee population of 792,000, more than half of whom arrived after the outbreak of war in December 2013.

The UN added that Khartoum state alone hosts at least 37,000 South Sudanese who are considered “the most vulnerable” among the overall refugee population state-wide.