Heavy rainfall adds to risks for displaced Sudanese
NAIROBI (AlertNet) – Security fears and muddy roads are hampering efforts to reach hungry families sleeping out under rainy skies, after they fled Sudan’s disputed border region of Abyei, humanitarian workers said on Thursday.
North Sudan's army seized the main town in Abyei at the weekend, spurring many to flee south amid looting and burning by armed groups. But aid workers trying to access displaced people who crossed into South Sudan’s Aweil East County, bordering Abyei, were forced to turn back on Tuesday.
“There was a lot of troop movement… There was shooting,” Maria Vargas Simojoki of the Danish Refugee Council told AlertNet on the phone from Aweil town. “We basically decided to turn around and come back.”
The United Nations (U.N.) is unable to visit Abyei to establish the whereabouts of displaced people because of the heavy presence of armed men and continued insecurity, it said in a report on Wednesday.
Simojoki’s team in South Sudan managed to reach one village, Mathiang dut Akong, where 200 people were being hosted by the local community.
“There were four unaccompanied minors among them and a lot of them were talking about losing children along the way,” Simojoki said.
“If you have three or four children that you cannot carry, you would probably lose them because they cannot keep up with you. There are too many people around; too much confusion.”
In the hurry to escape, people did not have time to carry essentials like food, blankets or jerrycans. Many are trekking through the bush to avoid the muddy main road where they would be vulnerable to attack.
“Identifying the precise locations and numbers of people that have moved to the south remains very challenging, with many groups still on the move or hiding in the bush,” the U.N. said in its report.
“Mainly, they are women plus their children. They are in very bad situation,” said Olivier David of the Norwegian Refugee Council, speaking from Aweil.
“They have nothing.”
RISKY RAINS
Medical aid organization Medicines Sans Frontieres (MSF) is providing medical assistance to people walking south from the border, with most of its patients being severely dehydrated children.
Heavy rainfall, which started on May 20, is putting the young and elderly at risk of respiratory infections.
“They don’t have shelter, they don’t have materials to cook. Access to food is a big concern,” said Gustavo Fernandes, programme manager for Abyei with MSF.
“Populations can’t remain in those conditions without having their health severely affected.”
Humanitarian aid workers are likely to be further stretched by the June-to-August rainy season – which causes flooding and displacement each year – and the continuing influx of tens of thousands of returnees moving north to south ahead of the South’s independence on July 9.
“The problem that we might face is if we see a lot return at the same time and flooding, because then we will have three different groups of people who need emergency assistance,” said Simojoki.
“The likelihood is very high that we will have quite a lot of flooding if it keeps raining.”
The main road from Agok, on the border, to Turalei, where humanitarian supplies have been stored, “is in poor condition and continued heavy rainfall will render it impassable,” the U.N. reported.
The International Organisation for Migration is deploying trucks to bring people to safe locations where they can register for assistance. The main destination is Mayon Abun, in Warrap State, where 4,259 people camp in and around the local school or are hosted by locals. The World Food Programme, the U.N. food aid organization, has begun distributing food in the town.
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