United Nations Radio

More than 100,000 refugees have returned home to South Sudan.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says the milestone was passed this week as the pace of return convoys picked up from countries neighboring South Sudan. UNHCR Spokesman Ron Redmond says the agency is helping some 4,500 refugees return each week to South Sudan - an increase from 3,000 two weeks ago.

"We're trying to get the refugees home ahead of the rainy season in May, and for those who want to return for the national census, the last part of April. They're primarily going home from Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia. We've got 18 land and air routes taking people home."

Mr. Redmond says that by mid-April the number of returnees is expected to jump to 6,000 a week as UNHCR increases transport for returnees from Uganda and Ethiopia.

In all, the agency says a quarter million refugees have returned to Sudan since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005 that ended 21 years of civil war between the north and the south of the country. Another quarter million Sudanese refugees remain outside Sudan's borders.