The United Nations Relief Operation in the southern regions of the Sudan is now well under way - as this UNICEF film shows.

The operation is designed to cope with the massive task of resettling, rehabilitating and feeding more than half a million people who were uprooted during the seventeen years of civil war that wrecked the country.

The United Nations has appealed to the international community for twenty-two-million dollars (about ten million pounds Sterling) to finance the one-year programme. So far, nearly ten-million dollars has been contributed - six million dollars by the United States.

Estimates of the number of refugees very - but, at the end of the hostilities, about a quarter-of-a-million southerners were in neighbouring countries, and about half-a-million were in other parts of the Sudan.

The Sudan now hopes for help in development, education and health; and for relief aid.

The first steps on the road to economic recovery have been taken. Emergency food is already being distributed, children are again attending school; agriculture is beginning where fighting raged; and simple houses are being put up for returned refugees.

Priority is being given by the Sudan Government to refugees in the bush who want to return to normal living conditions; and then to refugees abroad, now under the care of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

SYNOPSIS: The dance is a happy one - in keeping with the mood of these Sudanese refugees, who've just returned home to the southern regions, following the end of seventeen years of civil war in the Sudan.

In the first tentative, uncertain steps towards making the southern regions productive again, food growing regions have also been re-allotted. The huge task of building enough shelter to house more than half-a-million people, has started with the erection of large numbers of bamboo homes. So far the international community has given nearly ten-million dollars of the estimated twenty-two million needed for the first twelve-month relief operation.

A disastrous food shortage in the southern regions is being relieved by an airlift of more than eight-thousand tons of sorghum from the north of the country. That food there is, is being strictly shared out, so that as many people as possible will benefit. Estimates of the number of refugees vary - but, at the end of hostilities, about a quarter-of-a million southerners were in neighbouring countries, and about half a million were in other parts of the Sudan.

The Sudanese Foreign Minister, Doctor Mansour Khalid, has estimated that his country needs more than forty-five-million pounds for the repatriation and rehabilitation of all the refugees who were uprooted during the past seventeen years. Already benefiting are the children. And although the classrooms are still out in the open, the return to regular classes for many children is considered an important aspect of rebuilding the south. In an effort to persuade other countries that much more aid is still needed, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, arrived in the Sudan on Monday on a five-day visit.