Sudan / South Sudan – In a UNHCR-backed effort funded by the European Commission (ECHO), IOM will start airlifting 1,370 vulnerable people from the Sudanese capital Kartoum to Aweil in South Sudan’s Northern Bahr El Ghazal State on Thursday 1st November.
The airlift, which is expected to comprise two 47-seat charter flights a day over the next two weeks, will transport extremely vulnerable individuals (EVIs) and their families who have been stranded in open areas of Khartoum for up to two years waiting for transport assistance to return to South Sudan.
The group includes 340 individuals whose health status puts them at high risk of developing complications if left living in the open or undertaking the arduous road journey south. They include elderly and handicapped people, people with medical conditions, unaccompanied minors, vulnerable female-headed households and pregnant women with medical complications.
IOM South Sudan staff will meet the returnees on arrival and provide medical assistance and onward transportation.
The returnees originally moved to open spaces in Khartoum in 2010 in response to public announcements assuring them of government-assisted transportation to South Sudan. Many gave up their jobs and homes in anticipation of the move and subsequently found themselves stranded.
Assessments over the past two years found that most of the stranded people have a clear wish and intention to return to South Sudan, but no way of making the journey, either for financial reasons or due to the difficulties of travel through conflict-affected zones.
Limited access to the areas of Khartoum where South Sudanese are gathered mean that their exact numbers are difficult to estimate. But a recent inter-agency needs assessment suggests that there are between 30,000 to 38,000 stranded in open spaces around the city at risk from prolonged exposure to the elements and poor sanitary conditions.
IOM will collect the returnees the day before they are due to depart and will provide them with food and accommodation at a hotel. It will also screen them for medical problems travel both at the time of registration and before boarding the aircraft to ensure that they are fit to travel.