Southern Sudanese in the North face serious security risks when returning through disputed areas to reach the South. NRC urges greater cooperation to facilitate the safe and dignified return of Sudanese citizens.
Southern Sudanese in the North face serious security risks when returning through disputed areas to reach the South. NRC urges greater cooperation to facilitate the safe and dignified return of Sudanese citizens.
Few days before South Sudan declares independence on 9 July, a new group of returnees from the North arrived at the train station in Aweil. The state capital of Northern Bahr el-Ghazal (NBeG), bordering the troubled areas of Darfur and Abyei, is the destination point for most of the returnees to the south.
Under the burning sun, some 3000 children, women and men could finally disembark the train that had left Khartoum ten days earlier, slowly making its way down south along tracks in very poor condition. Along the way, armed militia attacked the train as it passed through the conflict ridden area of Southern Kordofan. According to the returnees several people were killed, many were severely beaten and others had their belongings stolen. Some children were seen escaping into to bush.
Most of the passengers came off with their fists held high and women were ululating in celebration of having survived the journey and reached the South in time to witness the birth of a new nation. At the same time, families who had come to the station to welcome their loved ones started weeping and mourning when they learned that they had not completed the journey. Three children came without parents and one reported that she had been separated from her mother during the attack. A mother with children was sitting along the tracks crying profusely because her husband had slipped under the train only a day before its arrival.
Beaten but alive
Father-of-three, Deng Kur (38), was exhausted but relieved when his family finally reached Aweil. According to him, the attack happened when a group of armed men on motor bikes came up along the train, ordering it to stop.
“As the train stopped, more men came out from the forest. They shouted that they wanted our belongings and ordered those of us that were sitting on the roof to come down. I witnessed two of the men next to me being stabbed to death. They started beating me, too. They beat me in my stomach with sticks. I passed out when they hit me in the head,” he explained.
According to Kur, he felt that his family’s safety would be compromised by staying on after independence. In the chaos of leaving Khartoum together with thousands of other people who had also once fled from the South, most of the family’s belongings got stolen. Then the little baggage they had carried on the train, was lost during the attack.
Witnessed killings
Whilst most of the train passengers were returning from Khartoum, some had got on the train as they were fleeing from Southern Kordofan. More than 73,000 people have been displaced during the past month due to the ongoing military offensive, of which the majority have been dispersed within Northern territory, according to the UN.
“My family and I fled from Southern Kordofan because we witnessed several people being killed, including two of my uncles,” said teenage mother Awut Adial (age unknown).
She says she feels lucky that the militia did not enter the train compartment where she was crammed together with her two-week old baby, two year old son, husband, and mother. This is the second time she has had to flee violence in Sudan. As a child during the civil war, her family fled from Aweil to Southern Kordofan. Coming back to Aweil with her own family, she said she felt safe but that she had no food or home to go to.
“Luckily I can breastfeed my baby, but I haven’t eaten since yesterday and my eldest son has not got much to eat, either,” she told NRC’s employees, who approached the passengers to ensure that they were appropriately registered in order to receive assistance by the humanitarian actors in Aweil.
Difficult decision
Many Southern Sudanese in the North now find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place. The train passengers reported that they wanted to return because their employers had stop paying their salaries, or that they had received notice that Southerners would no longer be employed after independence, and some reported that they had received death threats if they were to stay on after 9 July.
“We are concerned that the matter of citizenship is not yet settled between the northern and southern governments. This is making a decision to stay or leave extremely difficult when there are no guarantees and your future is unpredictable,” said NRC Country Director Julie McKay.
More than one million people originating from the South are living in the North. Nobody knows how many of those will return, where and when. In the past six months, an estimated 65,000 people have returned to Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, with another 120,000 arriving in two other border states of South Sudan; Unity and Upper Nile. Recently, return movements to South Sudan have slowed down considerably as it has become more difficult to travel across Southern Kordofan and South Darfur. However, the returns are expected to increase after independence and due to the continuing insecurity it is likely that they will be concentrated in the eastern side of South Sudan.
Limited logistics
In addition to the security risks connected to the return journey, NRC is concerned about the lack of logistical capacity to facilitate the ongoing returns and moreover, in the case of an increasing number of returns. Thousands of people are still waiting at departure points around Khartoum or are stuck at transit sites in the North. For instance, at the way-station at Kosti currently some 14,000 people are occupying facilities intended for a tenth of such numbers.
“The international community are making efforts to assist with the most vulnerable cases in the north, however the logistics are burdensome and greater government cooperation is needed to facilitate this return movement. With the approaching rainy season in mind, we fear that it will be practically impossible to facilitate road transport for returnees,” McKay stated.
The NRC Country Director underlined that any return process must be based on a voluntary and informed decision. Further, they should involve detailed planning and organisation to ensure that appropriate protection and assistance is provided for vulnerable groups such as unaccompanied minors and single mothers.
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