Sudan refugees on epic trek home

The journey must be completed before the rainy season

Some 6,000 Sudanese people are trekking 400km through forests and across rough terrain to return home following the end of a 20-year war in the south.

The group, who fled their homes four years ago, are travelling from Western Equatoria back to Western Bahr El Ghazal and travelling about 20km a day.

To avoid minefields they are having to clear a new route through forest.

Southern Sudan is a vast area, with little infrastructure and few roads. It is one of the world's poorest areas.

Bill Lorenz from the International Organisation for Migration says that an advance party mark trees as they go.

Several groups of people then cut down the trees and build bridges.

"Then the women, children, 'vulnerables' and the people assisting them follow several days later," Mr Lorenz told the BBC.

Help

But not everyone has to walk all the way.

The IOM has secured three trucks which shuttle back and forth, carrying the weakest members of the group.

The group began their journey near the end of April travelling from Mabia, south of the town of Tambura, to Raja.

Aid agencies have begun assisting them with airdrops of food and supplies.

The aim is to try to reach their home area before the rainy season sets in, and rivers become impassable.

But when they arrive, they will face another daunting challenge.

Their homes have all been cleared, and they will have to re-build them from scratch.

There are millions of displaced southerners who have meagre resources and are now thinking of returning home following the signing of the peace deal in January between the government and SPLA rebels.