An Eastern Equatoria minister called on the hosting communities in South Sudan to receive with harmony their relatives who return from exile.
Minister for Culture and Social Development, Magdalene Beato Atiol, told the crowd celebrating World Refugee Day in Torit on Monday that many returnees went back into to exile due to the hosting communities’ hostility towards them.Ms. Atiol urged the hosting communities to devolve property that belonged to the returnees.
She urged Eastern Equatoria residents to share the available resources with returnees to help them cope with the new environment.
Ms. Atiol said the people of Eastern Equatoria should be exemplary to other states of Southern Sudan in portraying love for others.
Ms. Atiol’s remarks followed a comment by Clementina Atwari, a returnees’ representative at the celebration, saying many of her colleagues opted to go back into exile over hostility from the hosting communities.