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A leading children’s charity says tens of thousands of people who have returned to Southern Sudan to vote in the region’s independence referendum are in urgent need of food, shelter and water.
Plan International is monitoring the impact of the week-long poll, which could see the South become the world’s newest nation.
It’s thought that more than 150,000 Southern Sudanese have already come back to the area to cast their ballot.
“Humanitarian services remain stretched for the returnees,” says Fikru Abebe, Director of Plan International’s Southern Sudan Office.
“Our assessment of Central Equatoria State alone indicates that there is still a pressing need for the support of basic services.”
“Health issues are also starting to emerge, including waterborne diseases, watery diarrhoea and yellow fever,” adds Mr. Abebe.
The referendum was mandated by a 2005 peace agreement which ended a 22 year civil war between the North and South of Sudan.
Approximately 4 million people are voting at approximately three thousand polling stations across the South.
Plan International is working on long-term strategies to support the newly-enlarged population.
“Up to 2 million people could return if independence is declared,” says Mr. Abebe.
“We need to ensure that children are protected and that they have access to education, health services, water and sanitation.”
“We are also looking at ways to support families in maintaining their livelihoods,” he explains.
Returnees are currently concentrated along the border areas with North Sudan.
However, it is expected that people will soon gravitate towards larger urban centres, such as the Southern capital, Juba.
“We will be considering not just people coming from the North, but also those arriving from the South, from countries like Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo,” says Mr. Abebe.
“The rainy season will start again in April and this may affect living conditions and hamper distributions of aid.”
Plan is also providing humanitarian assistance in the North of Sudan to people travelling to the South.
Aidworkers have launched a $50,000 appeal to help provide displaced children and their families in the North with food, shelter and sanitation.
Officials claim more than 60% of the electorate have already cast their vote – the percentage required to validate the referendum.
Preliminary results are expected at the beginning of February.
Meanwhile, violent clashes have been reported in the border region with the North.
Ten returnees were killed in an ambush in South Kordofan, while around thirty are reported to have died in Abyei.
For more information on Plan’s work call 0300 777 9777 or visit www.plan-uk.org/
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Media contact: Rose Foley - 020 3217 0257
Notes to editors
Plan International is an independent, non-religious and non political international organisation. Plan has been in the Sudan since 1977, predominantly in the Northern regions and also in Darfur. Plan’s Southern programs have been operational since 2007.
1) Plan was founded by British journalist John Langdon-Davies in 1937 to rescue orphans and other vulnerable children from the Spanish Civil War.
2) Today we work in 48 of the poorest countries on the planet across Africa, Asia and South America.
3) We have over 114,000 sponsors in the UK, generating £25 million a year, and 1.5 million sponsored children worldwide.
4) Our projects, including schools and health centres, are geared to working with children and their communities to help them fulfill their potential
5) Sponsorship starts at £12-a-month and, rather than going to individual children and their families, funds projects to improve schooling, health, nutrition and livelihoods across communities.
