JUBA, Sudan, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Refugees returning to southern Sudan in the wake of the 2005 peace deal between Khartoum and regional rebels are in desperate shape, humanitarian workers say.
While the long civil war pitting the Muslim Sudanese government against the mainly Christian and animist rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement officially ended three years ago, large groups of refugees are only now coming back into Sudan and have found little is left to reclaim, the Danish group DanChurchAid said in a statement Tuesday.
"Thousands of refugees are now returning home and the need for schools, roads and health clinics is huge, but the only things left by the war are landmines and destroyed buildings," the Danish non-profit organization said in a statement.
The group said weapons are still present everywhere and that the peace settlement is shaky. Some 250,000 refugees have returned to southern Sudan, while thousands more living in Kenyan refugee camps are awaiting for their chance to return.
