15 december 2010 - Juba, South Sudan - South Sudan returnees camp on the bank of the river Nile in the southern capital Juba, South Sudan. They returned to the South bringing with them their family's possessions. Over 55.000 southerners have returned to the South in advance of the january 9, 2011 referendum on the independence of the South. The return has been organized by the autonomous Government of Southern Sudan programs and others haves spontaneously returned to various states across the south. Many Southern Sudanese fled to the north during the second north-south civil war, which began in 1983 and ended with a 2005 peace deal that granted the south the right to secede through a referendum. Photo credit: Benedicte Desrus