Sudan & South Sudan: UN struggles to cope with thousands of daily arrivals in transit centres in Renk

STAFF at the UN-run transit centres in Renk, South Sudan, help exhausted people to travel onwards to their final destinations in the hope of avoiding large numbers staying in this extremely remote, poorly resourced region. 

There’s hardly any water, food, sanitation, security or shelter. Many of the thousands who have crossed the border from Sudan are vulnerable and traumatised. They fled terrible violence and have spent weeks, in some cases months, trying to cross into South Sudan to reach safety. 

Since the outbreak of fighting in Sudan last April, the influx of people fleeing Sudan increased sharply at multiple border points. More than half a million have crossed the South Sudan border, according to UN estimates. 

Read more from UN News
Dated Friday, 23 February 2024 - here is a copy of the report in full:

Sudan: UN struggles to cope with thousands of daily arrivals in South Sudan transit camps

© IOM/Elijah Elaigwu. Sudanese refugees in the UN-run transit centre in Renk, South Sudan.

South Sudan, one of the world’s poorest countries, is dealing with the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees from its northern neighbour, Sudan, which has been in the grip of a major conflict between the government and the Rapid Support Forces since April of last year.

Since the outbreak of fighting, the influx of people fleeing Sudan has increased sharply at multiple border points, and more than half a million individuals have crossed the South Sudan border, according to UN estimates.

At the UN-run transit centres in Renk, staff are helping exhausted individuals to travel onwards to their final destinations in the hope of avoiding large numbers staying in this extremely remote, poorly resourced part of the country.

Yvonne Ndege, a spokesperson with the UN migration agency, IOM, travelled to Renk to assess the conditions in the camp. 

She described the scene to Ben Malor from UN News.

Yvonne Ndege: This is one of the most remote parts of South Sudan. There’s hardly any water, food, sanitation, security or shelter. Many of the thousands of people who have crossed the border from Sudan are vulnerable and traumatized. They fled terrible violence and have spent weeks, in some cases months, trying to cross into South Sudan to reach safety.

UN News: How is the UN helping those arriving in Renk?

Yvonne Ndege: Hundreds of thousands of people have been assisted by the UN migration agency to continue moving to other destinations. This assistance is critical because what IOM and other UN agencies don’t want is for refugee camps to spring up in this location as it is so remote. There is no infrastructure, no medical facilities or resources of any kind for those vulnerable arrivals.

This has involved IOM putting on over 1,200 flights away from Renk to Malakal, the capital of Upper Nile state. It has also involved sea transportation, and we have helped over 100,000 to take boats to Malakal, which is a three-day journey overnight on the River Nile.

We have also assisted people with some road transportation to try to reach their communities of origin, but when you look at the volume of people arriving, this assistance is not enough, and the funds to continue to provide this onward transport assistance are dwindling and running out fast.

© IOM/Elijah Elaigwu. Sudanese refugees in the UN-run transit centre in Renk, South Sudan.

UN News: What have the displaced people been telling you about their experiences?

Yvonne Ndege: The conditions that they describe are completely horrific. Some say they fled violence and bullets, spending several days in the bush trying to reach the border. Others say they experienced sexual violence along the journey. We spoke to one family, a mother with her two daughters and her own mother, who travelled all the way from the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, to reach this border and cross into safety. She was very traumatized and upset. We spoke to another man, who said that his whole family, he and his sons, were being forced to actually join the fighting and take part in the violence. They didn’t want to, so they spent weeks trying to get here.

UN News: How serious are the risks of disease or hunger?

Yvonne Ndege: IOM staff have been providing medical checks and vaccinations to those arriving before they are transported to the main town of Renk for further assistance and care, but there are massive concerns about the risk of disease, hunger and further violence. There’s hardly any infrastructure in this remote area, no internet or mobile network of any kind and no food or water supplies. So, the risks are real.

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View original here: https://news.un.org/en/interview/2024/02/1146907

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Sudan: Conflict in Al Fasher capital of N. Darfur State

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: DTM (Displacement Tracking Matrix) Sudan's Early Warning Flash Alerts provides immediate updates on incidents and sudden displacement in Sudan. Here's one on North Darfur. 

To give some context, I've listed five reports including one of Hemeti, leader of Janjaweed RSF, aiming to turn Zurrug, North Darfur into a dream city. 

Hemeti is supported and equipped by several foreign countries. He spent much of the last 20 years terrorising and killing Sudanese people in Darfur, Sudan to force them off their land and make them too scared to return.

If memory serves, the Janjaweed were incentivised by Sudan's President Bashir who promised the militia leaders they could keep the land and what they looted for stopping Darfur rebels advancing and reaching Khartoum.

Sheikh Musa Hilal controls huge swathes of Sudan and protects millions of Sudanese, ruling with benevolence. He's an old-style warrior who, like Mr Bashir, does not believe in taking hand-outs as it is not part of their culture.

Reportedly, Hemeti has grand plans for Sudan's remote western province. He feels at home in Darfur. He didn't fit in with the elites in Khartoum. Fighting and killing to take and get what he wants is what he knows best.

Hemeti is semi-illiterate. I saw footage of Messrs Burhan and Hemeti sitting next to each other at a meeting. While Hemeti lifted pages of a document, Gen Burhan's lengthy smiley sideways glance at Hemeti's hand was telling.

Surely, Sheikh Musa Hilal of North Darfur knows all about Hemeti's grand plans for North Darfur. Sheikh Hilal holds a lot of sway in North Darfur and beyond. Read more in the related reports posted here below.

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Flash alert from DTM

Dated Sunday, 18 February 2024 - here is a copy in full:

DTM Sudan Flash Alert: Conflict in Al Fasher (Al Fasher Town), North Darfur - Update Fourteen

On 16 February 2024, clashes renewed between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Al Fasher Town of Al Fasher locality, North Darfur. Reportedly, SAF conducted airstrikes targeting RSF positions across northern and eastern neighborhoods of Al Fasher Town. 

Field teams reported that the event led to widespread displacement. Affected households sought refuge in southern neighborhoods within Al Fasher Town. Estimates on the number of displaced individuals are yet to be confirmed. The situation remains tense and unpredictable. 

DTM is monitoring the situation closely and will provide further information on displacement and population mobility across Sudan, on a weekly basis, via its Weekly Displacement Snapshot.
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POSTCRIPT from Sudan Watch Editor

Just spent an hour down a rabbit hole of links and reading a dearth of word salads in an effort to find out who is behind DTM and how it is funded. I may be wrong, it appears that DTM and IOM are funded by the United Nations. 

Curiously, DTM website translates for English, Spanish, French but not Arabic, Swahili, Russian, Chinese or other languages. Why Spanish? I don't know. Here’s what I found and put in a nutshell:

IOM's (International Organisation for Migration) Global Data Institute (GDI), established in 2022, works to enhance the availability and use of data to achieve stronger governance outcomes and positive impacts for migrants and societies in line with IOM's Migration Data Strategy.  DTM (Displacement Tracking Matrix) is one of the founding pillars of the GDI, alongside the Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC). 

The Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) https://dtm.iom.int gathers, analyses and disseminates information on the mobility, vulnerabilities, and needs of displaced and mobile populations.

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Related

Sudan Watch - February 16, 2024

Situation Update Feb 2024: 10 months into conflict between SAF & RSF, war in Sudan is taking a new turn

"The mobilisation of rebel groups and ethnic militias in North Darfur forced the RSF to avoid a direct confrontation. In Kordofan, a sustained collaboration between the SAF and al-Hilu may push the RSF out of Dilling and other areas where the al-Hilu faction of the SPLM-N holds sway. However, clashes between these collaborators elsewhere in South Kordofan add to the uncertainty of the situation." 

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/02/situation-update-feb-2024-10-months.html

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Sudan Watch - February 14, 2024

Darfur tribal leaders agree with Sudanese Sheikh Musa Hilal to lead initiative to stop war in Sudan

A civil delegation of tribal leaders in Darfur states announced that it has agreed with the head of the Revolutionary Awakening Council, Sheikh Musa Hilal, to lead a national initiative to stop the war between the army and the Rapid Support.  

The delegation, which included the principals of the tribes of Tarjum, Fallata and Rizeigat and notables of a number of tribes in the states of South, East, Central and West Darfur, visited Sheikh Musa Hilal in the suburb of Mistriha in North Darfur state, and the delegation spent about a week during which he held several meetings with notables of the region.

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/02/darfur-tribal-leaders-agree-with.html

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Sudan Watch - October 06, 2023

Sudan: Chief of Arab Rizeigat Mahameed clan to mediate between warring tribes in South Darfur

“Sheikh Musa Hilal will lead the initiative as head of the council and native administration* leader, along with other native administration notables and community figures from Darfur and some other states of Sudan”. A Revolutionary Awakening Council spokesperson said that “the root causes of the clashes need to be defined and addressed, to stop them forever”.

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/10/sudan-chief-of-arab-rizeigat-mahameed.html

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Sudan Watch - October 05, 2023

Sudan: RSF to turn Zurrug, N Darfur into a dream city

THE ruthless leader of Sudan's Arab militia has grand plans for the remote western province. But the transformation of Zurrug risks more unrest. Read more in this report from the archives of Sudan Watch, copied here in full.

Blood, sand and gold: victor’s city rises from ashes of Sudan’s civil war

Report from the The Observer - www.theguardian.com

Observer dispatch Darfur

By KLAAS VAN DIJKEN

Dated Saturday 29 February 2020, 17.05 GMT

Photo: Children at the school in Zurrug sing anti-racism songs that praise the Rapid Support Forces. Photograph: Klaas van Dijken/Lighthouse Reports

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/10/sudan-rsf-to-turn-zurrug-n-darfur-into.html

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Sudan Watch - December 21, 2023

Understanding the Sudanese Civil War. Muslim Brotherhood is to blame. Janjaweed's home is Darfur

"The first thing [Sudanese] Pastor Kuku says when I ask him about the situation [in Sudan] is that the Muslim Brotherhood is to blame. “As far as they are concerned, they must be in control,” he says. “No one is allowed to govern the country while they are around — the country will be ruined, or they rule it… They feel that anyone else who might rule are infidels.” 

The Brotherhood is an Islamic organization active in many countries. It supported the old dictator al-Bashir, and now supports his successor al-Burhan. The trouble is, Kuku says, the Brotherhood does not feel any sense of patriotism or belonging to Sudan. Their loyalty is to the Brotherhood. If they can rule Sudan, good — if not, let it be destroyed. If Sudan is ruined, they can move on. That’s their perspective.

The Janjaweed, which is currently occupying the capital Khartoum, isn’t any better. The Janjaweed just want to loot and pillage, in Kuku’s view. They don’t feel that they will get to keep Khartoum, so they want to destroy it out of envy and spite". Read more.

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/12/understanding-sudanese-civil-war-muslim.html

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UPDATE Wed 21 Feb 2024: changed title of this post from "Sudan: Conflict in Al Fasher Town, North Darfur" to "Sudan: Conflict in Al Fasher capital of North Darfur State"

END

UN presence in Sudan ‘in a precarious situation’ -IOM

"The fierce fighting between the Sudanese army and rebel RSF forces risks reaching the UN bases in the east of the country, warns the head of IOM, the UN migration agency in the country, sharing his frustration at being unable to reach the millions of civilians in desperate need of humanitarian assistance". Read more.

From UN News
Dated Wednesday, 17 January 2024 - excerpts:

UN presence in Sudan ‘in a precarious situation’, says IOM country chief

IOM 2023 IOM teams are assessing the needs of Sudanese refugees on the Chad–Sudan border

Since the fighting began in April of last year, about half a million people have fled into neighbouring South Sudan, one of the poorest countries in the world, and thousands more are expected to follow the exodus. The UN has shared reports of horrific abuse and widespread rights violations. Loaded trucks have been unable to bring aid supplies because of fierce fighting. Drivers have been beaten and extorted for money, and aid workers have been detained and killed.

Peter Kioy, the Sudan Chief of Mission for IOM, spoke to Conor Lennon from UN News from his temporary base in the eastern city of Port Sudan about the dangerous situation facing the Sudanese people and the humanitarian workers trying to support them.

© WFP/Eulalia Berlanga South Sudanese returnees arrive at the Joda border point in Upper Nile State.

Peter Kioy: The humanitarian community has no capacity to oversee or access the areas where people are fleeing to or fleeing from, which makes it really difficult for us to ensure the international protection rights that they are entitled to. The lack of humanitarian aid makes them more vulnerable. Access remains one of the key issues for the humanitarian community in Sudan; we need more secure access for humanitarian actors. Both sides agreed to allow humanitarian access during peace talks, but they are still not delivering on that.

UN News: Do you still have people on the ground?

Peter Kioy: In some areas, we don't have people because it’s too dangerous, and the humanitarian space is shrinking. Recently, the conflict reached Al Jazirah state and White Nile state, which meant that humanitarian actors had to move out. Truck drivers do not feel secure going into some of those localities to deliver aid.

IOM Thousands of people have arrived at Metema, the border town between Sudan and Ethiopia, since fighting in Sudan erupted on 15 April 2023.

UN News: How have IOM staff been affected?

Peter Kioy: A staff member was killed at the onset of the crisis, and we had to regroup around our eastern offices in Kassala, Al Qadarif and Port Sudan.

However, we don’t know for how long. The RSF have said that they’re making their way east towards Port Sudan as well. We don’t know how quickly they will advance, so we remain in a precarious situation, where we don’t know what will happen in the next two months or even the next two weeks.

For now, the situation in Port Sudan remains relatively stable and calm, but it is a probably a false calm because we’re not sure of what is happening in and around the city.

So, we remain vigilant in case we find ourselves in a similar situation to Khartoum.

 

UN News: Can you describe the evacuation from Khartoum in April 2023

Peter Kioy: I think it’s a situation you would not want to find yourself in again. 

It was chaotic. Bullets flying all around, people unable to move and seeking shelter under the furniture in their houses, hiding in corners and hoping that no stray bullets come through the windows.

No one expected that Khartoum would bear the brunt of the fighting, and so the necessary security measures were not in place. This made it very scary, especially for those who had family.

It was a nightmare that no one would want to live through or wish on others.

I remember that we were trying to coordinate our staff to get them to the gathering sites for the evacuation. It was difficult even in the relatively calm areas because of the number of rebel and government checkpoints. We didn’t know how the soldiers would react.

UN News: What is morale like amongst the UN teams in Port Sudan?

We have stayed behind to deliver aid, and we have the capacity, but we do not have access to the people who are in need of our support, and that has become frustrating.

There are pockets of hope. We managed, for example, to bring in cross-border support from Chad into Darfur and deliver some vital humanitarian aid. But, it still remains a challenge, and we hope that with the ongoing negotiations greater access can be granted to the humanitarian community at large.

View original: https://news.un.org/en/interview/2024/01/1145602

ENDS