SOUTH SUDAN / AIRLIFT

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has started airlifting internally displaced South Sudanese into Juba. More than 12,000 IDPs have been stranded for months in the town of Kosti in Sudan. UNMISS

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:03
• Production Date: 14 May 2012
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS ASSISTANCE MISSION IN SUDAN - UNMIS
• Subject Topical: REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS
• Geographic Subject: SOUTH SUDAN
• MAMS Id: U120514a

Description

STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / RETURNEES
TRT: 2:03
SOURCE: UNMISS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS

DATELINE: 14 MAY 2012, JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, airplane on tarmac
2. Zoom out, officials waiting
3. Pan right, returnees getting off the plane
4. Tilt down. returnees getting off the plane
5. Med shot, returnees being welcomed
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Vincent Houver, Chief of Mission Organization for Migration (IOM):
“Today was the first flight, so 164 people have returned this moment and there will be 160 this afternoon and we will gradually increase the airlift every day until the 30th of May to get all the 12,000 people back into Juba.”
7. Med shot, old woman getting off the plane
8. Wide shot, returnees getting off the plane
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Duer Tut Duel Chairman, South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (SRRC):
“Besides these 12,000 still we have five hundred to seven hundred thousand South Sudanese who are in various states of Republic of Sudan. Our governmental, along with our partners, are working day and night in order to do what is possible in order to bring them back home in dignified and safe manner.”
10. Med shot, returnees walking off the plane
11. Wide shots, returnees in the waiting room
12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Savina William, Returnee:
“Life was so difficult but as we have reached here there will be no more problems, everything will be easy now.”
13. Med shot, returnees with the Red cross staff
14. Med shot, woman
15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Victoria Vinanso, Returnee:
“If I find a job I will work so that my children will go to school, because we have suffered a lot in the place where we were.”
16. Wide shot, bus leaving the airport

Storyline

The first group of one hundred and sixty five South Sudanese internally displaced persons (IDP’s) have been airlifted to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, after being stranded for months in the town of Kosti in Sudan.

The returnees travelled from Kosti to Khartoum and boarded a plane hired by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Vincent Houver, Chief of Mission of the IOM, said that the transportation of South Sudanese returnees stranded in Kosti will take up to four weeks.

SOUNDBITE (English) Vincent Houver, Chief of Mission Organization for Migration (IOM):
“Today was the first flight, so 164 people have returned this moment and there will be 160 this afternoon and we will gradually increase the airlift every day until the 30th of May to get all the 12,000 people back into Juba.”

The total cost of the airlift is five million dollars; IOM so far has raised two point five million dollars and is looking at the international community and donors for the remaining balance.

Upon arrival the South Sudanese Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (SRRC), Duer Tut Duel Chairman, and other government officials welcomed the IDP’s at Juba International airport. Duer Tut Duel said that more than half a million Southerners are still in the Republic of Sudan and the government alongside with international partners is working to bring them back to the South.

SOUNDBITE (English) Duer Tut Duel Chairman, South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (SRRC):
“Besides these 12,000 still we have five hundred to seven hundred thousand South Sudanese who are in various states of Republic of Sudan. Our governmental, along with our partners, are working day and night in order to do what is possible in order to bring them back home in dignified and safe manner.”

One of the first returnees to fly to Juba was Savina, a mother of four.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Savina William, Returnee:
“Life was so difficult but as we have reached here there will be no more problems, everything will be easy now.”

Victoria is a mother of two and has been living in Kosti for the past eight months waiting to be repatriated to the South. Life in Kosti has been difficult for her and the children.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Victoria Vinanso, Returnee:
“If I find a job I will work so that my children will go to school, because we have suffered a lot in the place where we were.”

Hundreds of thousands of Southerners have already arrived in the South, which separated from the Republic of Sudan last July. IOM said that all the IDP’s in Kosti are dependent on assistance from the international community for food, water, healthcare and other essential services and most do not have their own means to arrange transportation.

Since late March, Sudan and South Sudan have been fighting along their border, in what the United Nations termed a serious threat to international peace and security.

A UN Security Council resolution on 2 May ordered both sides to cease hostilities and to resume negotiations on unresolved issues including the status of each country's nationals in the other country by 16 May.