Returning to South Sudan

Cheers and ululations arose from the crowd along the banks of the Nile when the first of two barges neared Juba port. Cheering echoed back across the water as the barge grew closer, and passengers on deck and those standing on the roof began to sing.

More than 3,000 returnees were packed onto these barges in Kosti, a staging point in Sudan. Returnees have gathered there, among other places, to wait for transport. These passengers spent 12 days traveling up river to the capital of the world's newest nation. Their belongings would follow in the coming days loaded onto another eight barges.

Celebratory scenes unfolded as the passengers disembarked. Many of them were met by families who arrived just weeks before, but others had not seen each other in decades. Daniel Simon greeted his mother, whom he said he had not seen in years since leaving Khartoum for Juba.

Families reunite at Juba port

"That is a very joyous moment," Simon said. "Even I cannot explain this thing."

His mother, Saloma Majok, left Juba 24 years ago. She said conditions on board of the barge were rough, and the family faces an uncertain future, but she was glad to be home.

"I am very, very happy. Even in this situation I am very proud," said Majok. "This is my country."

The mass migration began even before South Sudan declared independence on July 9. Many started returning with the end of a two-decade civil war in 2005, and the flow increased as a referendum loomed last January.

Independence has inspired the dreams of southerners who have long complained of being marginalized by the largely Arab and Muslim north. Some have returned full of hope to their new nation, but many remaining in the north are also feeling pressure to go home.

According to Jan De Wilde, head of mission for the United Nations' International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Khartoum government has said the status of southerners living in the north must be determined by April 9, 2012. But the government has yet to clarify options such as citizenship, permanent residency, or long-term visas.

"On the push factor side, they don't know what is going to happen to them after April 9, 2012," he said. "Before that date they have to either get legal or get out basically, and there are no provisions made yet for people getting legal in the north."

The government encourages citizens to come home

IOM has assisted almost 20,000 returnees, according to De Wilde who added that the government in Juba is also encouraging its citizens to come home.

"We are here today receiving 3,200 returnees from the Republic of Sudan," said Duer Tut Duer Makuac, chair of the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission. "They are pleased and happy to be here and we are also glad to receive them."

But even he admitted that his government has had difficulties providing land to some of those who have arrived so far. "We knew from long time ago that they are going to be brought to the south," Makuac told reporters. "We were supposed to organize ourselves long time ago it was not done, but this time it is going to be done."

Iklas Monu Ahmed is one of those who has not received a parcel of land. In fact, she's been living in a makeshift shelter right next to the port since arriving four months ago.

"Juba is the place where I want to stay but I have nowhere to go and no one to take care of me," she said. "If only I could get a piece of land where I can put my family and my luggage, which is down here, I will be able to get something to do, whether making tea or whatever, then at least the family will sustain."

Ahmed was sitting on a bed frame under a tree and her 3-year-old son was lying listlessly next to her. Ahmed said she took the boy to a doctor who diagnosed him with malaria, but she said she could not afford to buy him medication. Other returnees in the crowd next to the port said they have had more positive experiences since coming home.

Fauzia Elhaj returned just a couple weeks ago and was at the dock waiting for her niece and another family member to arrive. She left Juba when she was only seven years old, and her childhood memories are in harp contrast to what she sees today.

"I used to live in Malakia here in Juba town," she said. "When I left this place our house was the only house in the area. Now I am astonished by the roads, the tarmac here."

One of the world's poorest countries

With independence, South Sudan became not only the world's newest country but one of its poorest.

"I pray to God that prosperity will come to South Sudan," said Elhaj. "I think it will get better and better as time goes on."

IOM says another 9,000 arrivals are expected over the next few weeks. For most of those returning this is a joyous arrival in their new home of South Sudan. But independence has brought its own challenges. Many of these people, like South Sudan itself, will have to struggle to pull themselves up from desperate poverty.

Author: Jared Ferrie, Juba, South Sudan
Editor: Sarah Steffen