Sudan's army and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been fighting since April 15, 2023. | Photo/AFP

Some of the civilians airlifted from Renk in Upper Nile State to Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, are appealing to the national government to repatriate South Sudanese nationals trapped in Sudan.

On Saturday, the government in Aweil said it was facilitating the transportation of 1,600 residents of the state who are stranded in Renk and Paloch of Upper Nile State.

The civilians fled Sudan where they were living as refugees – after a bitter fighting broke out in Khartoum between powerful military factions.

The government said it is working with humanitarian partners to transport more returnees back to Aweil.

The state further said the returnees are in a dire humanitarian situation in the border towns of Renk and Paloch at this time of the rainy season.

Abuk and Aluel are among the first returnees who arrived over the weekend in Aweil town on a government-facilitated evacuation.

“We just came all along right now from Sudan, we came and the situation wasn’t good at all, so like people are suffering a lot,” said Abuk Deng Koul, upon arrival in Aweil.

“So, we expect our president to help South Sudanese people to come back to South Sudan because the situation in Sudan is not good. We expect our president to do something, our people don’t have food and they are dying. So we expect all of them to come back to our country, they suffering too much,” Abuk said.

On April 22, 2023, Juba said it had no plans to evacuate South Sudanese citizens in Sudan because the population is too big.

But Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Deng Dau said the government has adopted some measures to receive the returnees.

Another returnee named Aluel appealed to President Salva Kiir to convince the Sudanese military factions to make peace so that lief can return to normal in the two countries.

“All the roads are closed and no one is going to South Sudan or leaving to Sudan again. So expect everybody (Sudan warring parties) to make peace so that the road can be opened, and we should get good food and get water,” she said.

According to the UN Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 100,000 people have so far crossed the border into South Sudan since the outbreak of fighting in Sudan on April 15.