Radio Miraya
2773: "Continue welcoming refugees" - Top UNHCR official appeals to South Sudan communities
Today it's very important for UNSCR worldwide and also for the people that we serve. It's World Refugee Days, which is celebrated worldwide. So it's very, very important where we are together with refugees, where we reflect what we are doing together as one. And about this refugee settlement, Gorom, refugee settlement, can you just tell us briefly about this settlement? How many refugees is this settlement hosting so far? So it's this beautiful Gorom, you see, the refugee started 2010 with 2000 refugees. But today, with the crisis of Sudan, we have about 12,000 refugees, and these 12,000 refugees from how many countries and which countries are those ones? Majority are coming from Sudan, and we have Ethiopians, we have Burundian, we have DRC Congo, and we have Sam Rwandan. Tell us, UNSCR, of course, has been taking care of refugees for a very, very long time, particularly in this settlement, what are you providing for these refugees? So here, we are not working alone, we're working with other partners, as you see. We have a cross, we have the WFP, we have a piece of Japan. So we have many organizations working here in Gorom. So together, we work with support, with them with the Sharta, we are supporting them with health, education, with also livelihoods. So we are really working together with other partners to support refugees here in Gorom. And how will you describe the relationship between the refugees staying here and the host community, the people who are here in Gorom before? As you heard today, the host community are very welcoming refugees here in Gorom since the day one. They are really working together, they are welcoming them, they provide the land, as you can see. And also, the host community are also benefiting from health, as you can see, or education. So we really thank very much the host community in Gorom for warm welcome from 2010 up today. And of course, we are thankful very much for the government of South Sudan, who opened doors for refugees to come to South Sudan. Yes, and from 2010, after now, that is almost 13 years of you hosting refugees in this particular settlement. Are there some new more refugees coming? Are you still registering more? Yes, of course, as you can see, the Sudan crisis is continuing, and we are receiving refugees daily coming to South Sudan. So yes, we continue registering refugees who are coming. And of course, there are those refugees as well who are not staying in the settlements or in the camps, they are urban refugees. Have you also registered urban refugees and how many here in Juba altogether? So here, again, as I say, the country opened door and they don't limit people to do anything, they are welcome in the country. So we do have a lot of refugees who are urban refugees here in Juba. Yes, and on this particular day, could you send us your message? What message could you like to send to the refugees, to the people of South Sudan, and especially as well, to the host communities? The messages for South Sudan, I would like to thank them very much for continuing welcoming these refugees who are coming to South Sudan and providing a land to live. I thank them very much, and also the message of host community. I ask them, I'm going to ask them on my speech that please continue to welcome these refugees here. And I do believe refugee will not be here forever. You say 13 years, but definitely they are not going to be here forever. So we ask the host community to continue accommodating refugees here in Goro and here in South Sudan.