LONDON (AlertNet) - Five years ago, Sudan's government and southern rebels made peace, officially ending a brutal 21-year civil war.
The peace deal promised a referendum on the independence of the semi-autonomous oil-producing south, which is planned for January 2011.
But tensions between the north and the south have escalated in recent weeks ahead of the country's first multi-party elections in 24 years, set for Sunday. Southern Sudan's main party has said it will boycott the polls, already hit by accusations of fraud.
Possible outcomes include a renewal of large-scale conflict and secession by the south, achieved either through the planned referendum or fighting. AlertNet has more in-depth scenarios here.
Experts say all these options have the potential to aggravate dire living conditions in southern Sudan, which has suffered years of under-development compounded by war.
It is by far the poorest region of Sudan and one of the poorest in the world. There are very few options for making a living beyond subsistence agriculture, and many communities lack farmland.
The humanitarian situation has been worsened by Khartoum's hostility towards international aid operations, which has limited resources and capacity to deal with the potentially destabilising return of hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the war and ongoing sporadic violence.
Here are some facts about the region and its humanitarian context.
POPULATION
Between 7.5 million and 9.7 million - about a fifth of Sudan's population
LIFE EXPECTANCY
42 years compared with 51 years for Sudan overall
MATERNAL MORTALITY
At 1,700 deaths per 100,000 births, southern Sudan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. It is much worse than the rate in the north and compares to 1,100 deaths per 100,000 births for the whole of Sudan.
FOOD AND WATER
Hunger is widespread and child malnutrition is among the worst globally. Almost a fifth of the population suffer chronic hunger, compared with less than 10 percent in the north.
In February, U.N. food agencies and Southern Sudan's agriculture ministry said the number of people in southern Sudan in need of food assistance had more than quadrupled from almost 1 million in 2009 to 4.3 million this year.
Children in remote areas of southern Sudan are facing extreme hunger and could die if they don't receive emergency food aid, relief agency Save the Children said last month.
Only half the population in the south have access to clean water compared with 70 percent in the whole of Sudan.
HEALTH CARE
Only a quarter of the region's population have access to a functioning health clinic.
The Norwegian Refugee Council said in March that 80 percent of the south's health services are provided by international aid agencies, which is unsustainable.
SECURITY AND DISPLACEMENT
Around 2,500 people died last year in fighting in the south between pastoralists of different ethnic groups, and up to 391,400 people fled their homes, mostly because of the inter-tribal fighting compounded by food shortages and political neglect of minority ethnic groups.
Clashes have continued this year, killing and displacing more people. An estimated 267,500 people remained displaced inside southern Sudan in February.
Between the end of the civil war in 2005 and January this year, a total of 328,156 refugees had returned home to southern Sudan.
The region also hosts about 26,000 refugees from neighbouring countries, particularly from Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan rebel group, has also carried out attacks on villages in southern Sudan, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes and threatening delivery of aid.
No LRA violence has been confirmed in the region since mid-November, but fear of renewed attacks could keep the displaced away from their homes for longer, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in February.
Sources: CIA World Factbook, Reuters, AlertNet, United Nations, USAID, Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children, Refugees International
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