Refugees, ICC and LRA...

The county of Sudan has been in the headlines a lot in the past month…refugees from DRC fleeing into South Sudan; more LRA attacks; and now the ICC has issued the arrest warrant for Bashir. It’s definitely an interesting time to be working in Sudan, and trying to get my head round all the politics and what it all means for the Continued Peace Agreement (CPA). At the moment things don’t look too promising.

Congolese refugees
The first influx of people from Aba, DRC into South Sudan was on 22 January 2009. The number registered was 1,959 people. These people remained at the border and were given food and NFIs by UNHCR. They believe it is safer near the border as the SPLA are around. Since then, there was a second, much larger influx of refugees which went further into South Sudan and settled at a school and church site which they could use for shelter, and there is also a borehole at the school.

Children registered by UNHCR

There are large number of children and pregnant women. UNHCR have registered around 5,900 refugees in total. It is believed that the reason for the fleeing was not due to an actual LRA attack. Rather it was due to fear of an LRA attack. The current security situation in North Congo is not good. The Congolese Army are reportedly doing very little to protect their people. When we have spoken to the local people, they say that they will not return until security is res-established in Aba.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7685235.stm

Congolese women cooking for her family

When I first went to the site of the refugees, it was hard to imagine how they could believe they were better off here in Sudan, sleeping under a tree, or with no shelter at all, rather than staying on Congo. Things must have been really bad back home for them. Despite all of this, the people are in good spirits though, and in good health. The children still smile and laugh (and run away in fear) when I offer them my hand to shake as a way of saying hello

Make-shift shelter

Clearly, the first priorities were water, sanitation, health and shelter. Without any of these, there would surely be an outbreak of disease. Together with UNHCR, Medair and MSF have worked to improve the situation for the refugees. Initially, emergency latrines and shelters were constructed by MSF, and the borehole was repaired at the school site, while plans were made by the Government and UNHCR to move the refugees to another location, where they could have their own plots of land to build their houses. Moving the refugees means that the school where they are currently residing in can be re-opened and the local Sudanese children can go to school again. It’s also one of the schools where Medair is doing two latrine blocks.

Medair completed their water system in the new camp on Monday, which is great. We’ve also been helping UNHCR and MSF to locate slabs so that latrines can begin to be constructed in the new camp. UNHCR are allocating plots on the new site for the refugees to build their houses, but don’t want people to actually move there yet without there being water and latrines at the camp. To try and encourage people not to move yet, people are not being given NFIs (non-food items) until they are moved permanently. They have, however, been given one month’s supply of food.

Measels campaign

Women moving their belongings to the new camp

ICC

Security is not so good though unfortunately. Yes, President Bashir has been indicted by the ICC, and yes, 13 International NGOs have been thrown out of North Sudan.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7930829.stm

We’ve been told though that this will not have an impact on NGOs in Southern Sudan. Many of the people here are pleased with the outcome of the ICC. For years the people of South Sudan have been persecuted by the North, so there is very little sympathy with Bashir. However, what is more worrying is the impact the ruling of the ICC may have on the CPA (Continued Peace Agreement). There are many fears that the indictment may spark new tensions and fighting may erupt again. This begs the question as the whether the warrant for the arrest of President Bashir may do more harm than good.

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)
On top of all of this, there are the continued LRA attacks on the people of Southern Sudan. This past week, on Tuesday 3 March, and then on Friday 6 March the LRA attacked villages close to the town of Yei, where I am working currently. On Friday night, many people ran into Yei Town for safety. It was reported that nine LRA soldiers attacked a small village killing five people and reportedly abducting two children (although I believe now that the children ran away and have been found safe). We’re all safe here in Yei as the LRA are moving around in quite small fractured groups at the moment, so they are unlikely to be able to attack large groups of people. It has caused quite a bit of tension and unsettlement, with many people worried of another attack.

Unfortunately this will also impact our movements to the DRC refugees as it is close to the border with Congo. Many of the refugees are scared that they are going to be attacked by the LRA and are saying they would prefer to die in Congo rather than Sudan. It’s all very sad. It’s a privilege though to work with the people of DRC. The women have the most amazing hairstyles, very beautiful – and they even tried to do my hair in the same way, didn’t look quiet so beautiful though.