United Nations Radio

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has signed separate tripartite agreements with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan for the voluntary return of more than 13-thousand Sudanese refugees in the Congo as well as more than 6-thousand Congolese in Sudan.

Spokesman for UNHCR Ron Redmond says the agency plans to begin refugee return operations in March.

"And all of this is part of the process of trying to get people home to southern Sudan from the surrounding countries. More than half a million southern Sudanese are living in the surrounding states and we hope to see that repatriation getting into full swing this year."

The agreements come more than a year after the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended 21 years of civil war in south Sudan.