A WARM welcome greeted 33 refugees who arrived in Bolton on Monday to start a new life.

Only three days ago, the men, women and children were living in refugee camps in Uganda after fleeing persecution and torture in war-torn southern Sudan.

Now four families are starting a new life in Bolton, while a young woman and her baby and a single man are setting up homes in Bury.

Television and the press were at Commission Street Community Centre in Deane, to greet the new arrivals, as well as the leader of Bolton Council, Cllr Barbara Ronson.

She said she was proud that the area was being asked to host the refugees.

"Many of them have been through terrible ordeals," she said. "I feel sure that the people of Lancashire will offer them a warm welcome." The families have had English lessons and health screenings, and have been provided homes in the borough by St Vincents Housing Association.

They were selected to come to Bolton by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and the Home Office is paying their full resettlement costs for the next 12 months.

The group flew into London from Uganda on Saturday, and spent the weekend getting acclimatised to our colder weather and darker days, as well as being taught practical skills such as how to use a telephone and cross the road safely.

In Bolton, they will be given help to deal with the practicalities of day-to-day life, and are keen to take up offers of education and find work.

Southern Sudan has suffered from 21 years of civil war, which has killed 1.5 million people. Large areas of the country have been ethnically cleansed, and those that have fled have been living in mud huts in Uganda, some for many years.

Cllr Ronson said the refugees - many of whom had suffered ordeals such as rape, torture, imprisonment and seeing family members murdered - had a lot to offer.

"They are adding something to Bolton by bringing the richness of their culture," said Cllr Ronson.

After a coach journey from London on Monday, one of the refugees, Peter Lemi, said he and his wife and seven children were delighted to be in Bolton.

"My family is going to be comfortable here and not afraid any more," he said.

Thirty-one more people from Sudan are due to arrive in the town next month.

In 2004, Bolton took in a group fleeing Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.