GENEVA, March 6 (Reuters) - The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) appealed on Tuesday for $56 million to help more than 125,000 refugees return to southern Sudan this year. Over 100,000 refugees have already gone home since a peace deal was signed in January 2005 between the government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLA). "Against a backdrop of landmines, human rights abuses and the almost total destruction of infrastructure and services, ensuring return and reintegration in safety and dignity ... are major undertakings," the UNHCR appeal said. The programme would cover some 102,000 refugees living in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya and Uganda, together with another 25,000 who fled to other parts of Sudan to escape the 20-year civil war. There are currently an estimated 350,000 refugees from southern Sudan in neighbouring countries, the UNHCR says. Last year, the Geneva-based agency received more than $63 million from donors for its southern Sudan operations.
