EES Governor Luis Lobong, UNHCR Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa Amb. Mohamed Affey & UNHCR Country Representative Arafat Jamal reopening the base in Torit on Friday 11th Feb. 2022. Photo: Lugala Mulai/Eye Radio

The Special Envoy of the UN Refugee Agency to the Horn of Africa is calling on partners and the government to transition to development programs in the country.

Mohamed Affey says it is now time for the people of South Sudan to require substantive development and capacity building.

This, he says will promote self-reliance among the young people.

He now calls on the International partners to provide the necessary resources and provisions vital to support the people.

Mr. Affey was speaking during the reopening of the UNHCR Torit Field Office in Torit.

“You do not only require humanitarian relief, you require deliberate substantive development. People here are very hardworking they need to work for themselves and their country but we must be able to provide the necessary resources requires to support you”, Mohamed Affey said while addressing locals in Torit Town last week.

Meanwhile the Eastern Equatoria state Director of Relief and Rehabilitation Commission or RRC also emphasized on the need to reduce on relief aid to the people.

Augustine Kanya Albert says capacity building projects would assist those returning from the refugee camps for resettlement.

“What our people need is recovery and resilience building we do not need relief food, my appeal is that our people need capacity building”, Augustine Kanya stressed.

According to the UNHCR office in South Sudan, some 400,000 South Sudanese refugees have returned back to the Country in self-organized manner from neighboring countries since 2018.

99,000 of the returns have been registered in Eastern Equatoria State, 75, 000 in Unity, 59, 000 in Central Equatoria, 27, 000 in Jonglei and Upper Nile with 53,000.

In East Equatorial majority returns have been to Magwii County where families have started to rebuild their lives.

UNHCR however, pledges to work towards strengthening resilience and livelihood capacities of spontaneously returning refugees, IDPs and local communities.