South Sudan: Thanks to UNHCR a new extension site in Renk opened on Jan 2 and can receive up to 30,000

THIS good news post at X/Twitter by Marie-Helene Verney says: "A major breakthrough in the struggle to help thousands fleeing #Sudan conflict. A new extension site in Renk opened today [Jan 2]: it can receive up to 30,000. Thank you to all the partners that have been working throughout the festive season to make it happen. 470,00+ have arrived to [S. Sudan] since April...

A major breakthrough in the struggle to help thousands fleeing #Sudan conflict

A new extension site in Renk opened today: it can receive up to 30,000

Thank you to all the partners that have been working throughout the festive season to make it happen

470,000+ have arrived to… pic.twitter.com/cLbDGFEcNU

— Marie-Helene Verney (@MarieHVerney) January 2, 2024

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Related 

Sudan Watch - December 16, 2023

South Sudan: IOM, UNHCR concerned about risks relocating refugees & returnees from border areas

According to the UN, more than 438,000 people have arrived in South Sudan to escape the conflict in Sudan since April, of which 365,000 South Sudanese and 71,000 refugees. More than 24,000 refugees are stuck in Renk to the refugee camps in Maban County, Upper Nile State due to the current conditions. The road from Maban to Renk has been destroyed by the rains and while UNHCR is currently working on repairs, it has been requesting that the relevant ministries, as well as the private sector, take their share of the works.

Full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/12/south-sudan-iom-unhcr-concerned-about.html

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Sudan Watch - December 13, 2023

Sudan & South Sudan: Cholera crosses the Sudanese border and bursts into South Sudan refugee camps

At the Renk Transit Center, which has a capacity of 3,000 people, there are more than 16,000 current residents, and the roads that connect this out-of-the-way corner to the rest of the country are waterlogged by floods caused by end-of-summer rains. Renk’s risk lies in the fact that this [Vibrio cholerae] bacillus is transmitted through contact with contaminated foods and liquids, in conditions of overcrowding and lack of safe access to water and sanitation. Read more in this report.

Full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/12/sudan-south-sudan-cholera-crosses.html

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Sudan Watch - December 10, 2023

Sudan & S. Sudan: From faculties to refugee camps: War has displaced thousands of university students

"The Renk Transit Center [in South Sudan] does not qualify as a refugee camp. It’s a settlement designed as a transit point for about 3,000 people, but Renad, Nyamiji, Nosemba and Emam have been stuck here for several months. More than 18,000 souls are crowded together, due to the incessant flow of arrivals from the neighboring country [Sudan] and the impossibility of transferring refugees to more suitable places. Seasonal rains have flooded and cut off entire roads. Here, the living conditions are dire, because everything is lacking: shelters, clean water, enough food, adequate sanitation, health and educational services". Read more.

Full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/12/sudan-s-sudan-from-faculties-to-refugee.html

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Sudan Watch - November 18, 2023

100 returnees in Unity State head back to transit camps near South Sudan-Sudan border citing hunger

A hundred South Sudanese who recently returned from Sudan to escape violence are now returning to Sudan due to a worsening humanitarian crisis and hunger in Unity State. Residents in Unity State reported to Radio Tamazuj that the returnees are heading back to Renk and Thuongor transit camps near the South Sudan-Sudan border and the road leading to the Unity oilfield.

Full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/11/100-returnees-in-unity-state-head-back.html

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Sudan Watch - November 15, 2023

South Sudanese head home from war-torn Sudan

Many people displaced by Sudan's conflict arrive in Renk, South Sudan, where rains have turned the dusty land into mud. 

The majority of those fleeing Sudan arrive through a border crossing near Renk in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State - where the rainy season has turned the dusty land into a muddy mess. Many of the newcomers are hungry, sick and exhausted. One in five children and more than a quarter of pregnant and breastfeeding women screened at the border are malnourished. “It was a very hard journey. We didn’t have anything; no food, no water, no shelter, nothing. It was especially bad when it rained,” says South Sudanese mother Nyanchiu Pehok, who recently arrived in Renk with her eight children.

Full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/11/south-sudanese-head-home-from-war-torn.html

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Sudan Watch - March 22, 2020

South Sudan: a country on its knees - millions of lives at stake as ‘unity government’ announced

It’s undoubtedly a country on its knees, aptly described by one commentator as a “kleptocracy gone insolvent”, but also a place full of youthful ambition, its average age just 18. In a tarpaulin-clad clinic run by Medair on the outskirts of Renk, a market town in the north of the country, dozens of pregnant young women queue for check ups.  Since the end of 2013, conflict has cost almost 400,000 lives and left six million people, of a population of 11 million, desperately hungry

Full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2020/03/south-sudan-country-on-its-knees.html

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Sudan Watch - March 21, 2020

South Sudan: UN report finds all sides of conflict guilty of starving their citizens, govt embezzled funds. Govt struggles to merge soldiers under peace deal

On Thursday, the same day the rival leaders agreed to proceed with implementing the peace deal, the UN released a new report. It finds that all sides of the conflict were guilty of starving their citizens and that the government had embezzled funds that could have gone toward humanitarian support.

Full story:  https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2020/03/south-sudan-un-report-finds-all-sides.html

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ENDS

Thousands fled Sudan to safety in S. Sudan, scenes at Joda border chaotic with arrivals from Madani, Sudan

As we enter #Christmas weekend yet again thousands are fleeing #SudanConflict to seek safety in 🇸🇸
The scenes at Joda border are chaotic with arrivals from #Madani
Humanitarian partners again working against & around the clock
Only solution: the fighting must stop now pic.twitter.com/0ECKUIdvef

— Marie-Helene Verney (@MarieHVerney) December 22, 2023

ENDS

Sudan & S. Sudan: Thousands flee Sudan for S. Sudan. Joda border is chaotic with arrivals from Madani -UN

As we enter #Christmas weekend yet again thousands are fleeing #SudanConflict to seek safety in 🇸🇸
The scenes at Joda border are chaotic with arrivals from #Madani
Humanitarian partners again working against & around the clock
Only solution: the fighting must stop now pic.twitter.com/0ECKUIdvef

— Marie-Helene Verney (@MarieHVerney) December 22, 2023

ENDS 

South Sudan: IOM, UNHCR concerned about risks relocating refugees & returnees from border areas

“This tragic and senseless incident puts into question our entire strategy to relocate refugees arriving in South Sudan through Abyei to a safe location in Wedweil, where we opened a new settlement to receive refugees fleeing the Sudan crisis,” said Marie-Helene Verney, UNHCR Country Representative, who is also currently serving as the acting Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan. Read more.

From Radio Tamazuj
Dated Friday, 15 December 2023 - here is a copy in full:

IOM, UNHCR concerned about risks in relocating refugees and returnees from border areas

Returnees and refugees from Sudan in Renk, Upper Nile State. (File photo)

(JUBA CITY) - Two separate incidents have brought to the forefront the major challenges humanitarian agencies are facing in South Sudan, a joint IOM and UNHCR statement said earlier in the week.

In the first incident, two refugees were tragically killed in an attack against a convoy organized by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) transporting Sudanese refugees from Abyei to the Wedweil refugee settlement. On the same day, a boat facilitated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) began taking on water due to high winds and rough water – all on board were moved to different boats and proceeded safely to Malakal.

According to the UN agencies, the two incidents highlight the considerable challenges that humanitarian partners are facing trying to help refugees and South Sudanese who are fleeing the fighting in Sudan to reach safety.

The boat began taking on water on Wednesday morning as it was attempting to leave the port of Kodok, in Upper Nile State. Local authorities and humanitarian partners immediately launched a rescue operation and all on board are now accounted for and safe, the joint statement said.

Since the start of the Sudan crisis in April, IOM has moved more than 105,000 people out of Renk by river and another 59,000 by plane to their final destinations across the country.

“Transport by river remains the only viable option to move returning South Sudanese arriving through the Joda Border Crossing Point to Malakal, and from there to their final destination,” said John McCue, IOM Chief of Mission in South Sudan. “The risks and challenges are huge but keeping people in Renk is not an option as reception sites are overcrowded and provision of basic services is stretched to breaking point.”

In the other incident, two refugees were abducted on Wednesday morning as they were crossing Twic County, Warrap State on their way from Abyei to the refugee settlement of Wedweil, near Aweil in Northern Bahr-e-Ghazal State onboard a UNHCR convoy. The vehicle carrying the two refugees was surrounded by armed youth who forced all onboard to alight and abducted two men, one 21-year-old, and the other - 62, both from Sudan’s Blue Nile State. Local authorities later reported that both of them had been found dead. The rest of the convoy made its way safely to Wedweil.

“This tragic and senseless incident puts into question our entire strategy to relocate refugees arriving in South Sudan through Abyei to a safe location in Wedweil, where we opened a new settlement to receive refugees fleeing the Sudan crisis,” said Marie-Helene Verney, UNHCR Country Representative, who is also currently serving as the acting Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan.

“Humanitarian partners have taken the lion's share of the immensely challenging job of moving people in distress who arrived at the South Sudan border fleeing for safety, however, the responsibility of ensuring that returnees, refugees, and humanitarian workers are safe lies firmly with the South Sudan’s Government” she added.

Both agencies called for renewed efforts from the Government to facilitate transportation of refugees and returnees to safe locations.

According to the UN, more than 438,000 people have arrived in South Sudan to escape the conflict in Sudan since April, of which 365,000 South Sudanese and 71,000 refugees. More than 24,000 refugees are stuck in Renk to the refugee camps in Maban County, Upper Nile State due to the current conditions. The road from Maban to Renk has been destroyed by the rains and while UNHCR is currently working on repairs, it has been requesting that the relevant ministries, as well as the private sector, take their share of the works.

 

View original:

https://www.radiotamazuj.org/en/news/article/iom-unhcr-concerned-about-risks-in-relocating-refugees-and-returnees-from-border-areas

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