Humanitarian crisis looms as Sudanese return home

By Peter Orengo

A steady stream of Southern Sudanese returning home to participate in the ongoing referendum on secession are straining communities already facing dire shortages of food, water, health care and sanitation.

Two humanitarian agencies, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Oxfam have said the condition is worsening and called for more attention to protect and aid civilians.

"We have an unfolding humanitarian crisis. There's the potential for mass displacement, an upsurge in political and ethnic violence and a larger scale humanitarian emergency," said Susan Purdin, IRC's country director in Southern Sudan.

Thousands of displaced Southern Sudanese have gradually returned home since the signing of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended a 22-year civil war between Sudan's North and South. But the pace has dramatically accelerated, with some 106,000 returnees arriving from the North over the past three months.

The returnees are largely settling in former frontline states along the border that could be flashpoints again.

They arrive with little if any money or support. Thousands are camping out at makeshift transit centres, unable to reach their final destinations. Some have nowhere to go.

The agencies also say the security situation has also been deteriorating. Sporadic violence in the past year forced more than 220,000 people from their homes and attacks in the past few months in border regions have led to more displacement. The IRC and Oxfam reported an increased in violence against women.

"These regions are struggling to recover from the last war," says Purdin.

"They lack basic services, food, infrastructure, and the means to protect their civilians, and have little capacity to absorb returnees or displaced populations given the already bleak conditions."

Southern Sudan remains one of the poorest and least developed places on earth. Millions are dependent on food aid, less than half of the population has access to clean drinking water, maternal mortality rates are among the worst in the world and one in seven children dies before the age of five.

Purdin said as needs continue to increase, humanitarian aid organizations and UN agencies in Southern Sudan have stepped up assistance for the newly displaced, and put coordinated plans in place to respond to emergencies before and after the referendum.

"Amid all the international debate about various scenarios and the referendum's outcome, there has been a stunning lack of attention to the current and long-term protection and humanitarian needs of vulnerable civilians," says Purdin.

Oxfam said the border state of Northern Bahr el Ghazal provides a snapshot of the growing needs and challenges. There, International Rescue Committee health teams are currently providing medical assistance to 5,000 people, mostly women and children, who arrived in December to escape recent attacks, along with some 7,000 unsheltered returnees stuck in limbo in the state's capital Aweil and unable to provide for themselves.

They say regardless of the referendum's outcome, the Government of Southern Sudan will be overstretched for a number of years, with limited capacity to respond to emergency, recovery and development needs.