Emergency Teams Respond to Crisis in Sudans Abyei Region

* Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

When the fighting in Abyei began on 21 May, terrified people immediately fled for safety, with many leaving everything behind in their rush to escape. However, as more than 110,000 traumatised people arrived in nearby villages, they found little refuge there either. “It’s a harsh situation for the IDPs [internally displaced persons]; it’s not secure,” said Hellen Dawidi, Medair WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) Community Liaison Officer. “People are going hungry. They can still hear guns from a distance, so they are alert and tense. They need clean water and they need latrines.” In response, Medair sent a WASH emergency response team (ERT) to Agok, in the Abyei region, to improve access to clean water and sanitation for the suffering IDP population. “The WASH needs here are huge,” reported Taylor Balian, Medair WASH Project Manager. “All water points are overused, with the worst having a queue estimated at 150 jerry cans, or three hours of waiting for water.”For the past two weeks, our team has been working to make repairs and modifications to boreholes that will increase their output. In the village of Madien Jok Thiang in the Agok area, Medair built a mini water-yard to replace a single hand pump where the queue had been 50 jerry cans long. When the team returned days later, the queues had disappeared altogether. “Before, people were crowding and there was fighting between the host community and IDPs,” said the Chief of Madien Jok Thiang. “Now everything is good, it has helped a lot.”Medair is part of a larger international humanitarian effort that is currently underway to bring aid to the affected people in this increasingly fluid and insecure environment. “The agencies have been working well together,” said Eunice Kavoi, Medair Health Manager. “We’ve had coordination meetings every day to decide who is doing what and where, and to avoid people doing the same thing.”In the village of Wunrok, in Warrab state just south of Abyei, Medair’s Health ERT worked with two other NGOs to assist in delivering a short-term supplementary feeding programme that provided food to vulnerable children. Access to food has been a major issue for IDPs ever since the Abyei fighting began.“We had a lot of mothers and children in desperate need of food,” said Eunice. “The women were very desperate for something for the children, the room was packed. According to the mothers, in the two weeks since they fled, the children had started losing weight, and some were becoming malnourished.” As the date for Southern Sudan’s independence looms closer, and as fighting continues to intensify and spread to different regions—including Unity state (in the south) and South Kordofan state (in the north)—more and more families are expected to be on the move, including those caught in the crossfire and forced to flee. “People in Agok are saying that as separation gets closer they feel danger is getting closer,” said Hellen.Medair is monitoring the situation very closely, and remains committed to responding to emergency needs whenever possible. ________________________________________________________________For Media: Southern Sudan – Abyei RegionStella Chetham - South Sudan Field Communication OfficerTel. +249.925.525.454E.mail fco-sds(at)medair.orgMedair Headquarters SwitzerlandJanneke de Kruijf – Media OfficerTel. +41.78.6353095E-mail – janneke.dekruijf(at)medair.orgOwnership of the Abyei region is currently disputed between the north and the south.Medair’s Southern Sudan programme is supported by the Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection of the European Commission, the Common Humanitarian Fund, the Multi-Donor Trust Fund, Swiss Solidarity, the Basic Services Fund, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Big Give (U.K.), and private donors. Since 1991, Medair has responded to the needs of highly vulnerable people in conflict-affected Southern Sudan—particularly women and children under five. We currently provide WASH and health services in Upper Nile State (Melut and Manyo counties), while our emergency response teams provide rapid, life-saving aid during crises within Southern Sudan's 10 states.This media release was produced with resources gathered by Medair field and headquarters staff. The views expressed herein are those solely of Medair and should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of any other organisation.