South Sudan Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala: Our people ‘on brink of destitution, slowly perishing’

"THE country, South Sudan, seems to be going round in circles from one calamity to the next and back. The saddest reality is our inability to overcome the effects of these calamities and cushion our people against them." He [Bishop Kussala] said that unless these issues are addressed, he fears his people will not survive, “especially because the majority of the population (64%) are helpless youths who have no source of income, while most of the remaining 36% are elderly persons.” Read more.

From National Catholic Register
Dated Monday, 11 March 2024 - here is a copy in full:

South Sudan Bishop: Our People ‘on Brink of Destitution, Slowly Perishing’

Bishop Hiiboro Kussala painted a grim picture of the situation of women, girls, and children in the world’s newest and youngest country, which gained independence from Sudan in July 2011.

Photo: A camp for Internally Displaced Persons in Renk, South Sudan. (Credit:   Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development)

The people of God in South Sudan are in urgent need of external support, the president of the Integral Human Development Commission of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SCBC) has said.

In a March 8 letter addressed to “the head of Caritas network, people of goodwill, and the international community,” Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala described the desperate situation of his compatriots, who he says are “on the brink of destitution” and are “slowly perishing” amid challenges occasioned by violent conflicts and COVID-19.

“Our people continue to suffer the effects of complex emergencies, which are still being experienced in many parts of the country, including those parts that had previously been peaceful,” Bishop Hiiboro Kussala said in his three-page letter dated March 8.

The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) “has increased tremendously across the country,” he said, adding that these are South Sudanese “living in deplorable conditions and are starving.”

The bishop, who leads South Sudan’s Diocese of Tombura-Yambia, highlighted the fact that “women, children, the aged, and people living with disabilities” are bearing the brunt of the conditions in the East-Central African nation.

Bishop Hiiboro Kussala painted a grim picture of the situation of women, girls, and children in the world’s newest and youngest country, which gained independence from Sudan in July 2011. 

“Consider the South Sudanese mother who watches her child die because of malnutrition caused by severe hunger; the young man who dies in the hospital because there is no medicine to treat him; the 9-year-old girl who, for a piece of ‘bambe’ [potato], is forced to sell her body; and the emaciated old woman who is lying inside her ramshackle hut awaiting death to take away her suffering,” he said.

“Those still living in their homesteads are equally facing starvation since most of them have had to, ironically, abandon their sources of livelihood in a bid to save their lives,” he said. “Most school children have had to drop out of school because of insecurity and fear of being forcefully recruited to serve as soldiers in the conflicts.”

These challenges are compounded by earlier negative effects of COVID-19 restrictions, Bishop Hiiboro Kussala further lamented, explaining that “South Sudan is also still struggling to overcome the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw our already fragile economy come to a near collapse.”

“COVID-19 saw many people lose their jobs and livelihoods, causing those who were previously self-reliant to become dependent on well-wishers,” he said.

The challenges of the people of God in South Sudan have worsened by the country’s “skyrocketing inflation,” the bishop noted, adding that “many people can no longer afford to buy even the cheapest of foodstuff. As a result, the poverty levels in the country have increased, with the number of families going hungry escalating.”

“The state of calamities in the country has been worsened by floods in some areas and severe drought in others,” he lamented. “The country, South Sudan, seems to be going round in circles from one calamity to the next and back. The saddest reality is our inability to overcome the effects of these calamities and cushion our people against them.”

He said that unless these issues are addressed, he fears his people will not survive, “especially because the majority of the population (64%) are helpless youths who have no source of income, while most of the remaining 36% are elderly persons.”

As president of the Commission for Integral Human Development of SCBC, which brings together Catholic bishops in Sudan and South Sudan, Hiiboro Kussala appealed for external support, imploring them to “not get tired of our knocking on your doors once again and again … because you are our only hope and therefore light at the end of the tunnel.” 

“It is no longer about the country and its leadership but about the people of South Sudan, who are slowly perishing,” the bishop said. 

In his letter, the bishop acknowledged with appreciation the support of the international community over the years. “You have been our anchor amid troubled waters, and we can only say thank you and pray that the good God may reward you in ways that only he can,” he said.

View original: https://www.ncregister.com/cna/south-sudan-bishop-our-people-on-brink-of-destitution-slowly-perishing

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Sudan: Displacement crisis in Sudan deepens

If the fighting further escalates and spreads to Sudan's White Nile State it could significantly impact the work of UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations that provide critical assistance to over 437,000 South Sudanese refugees and some 433,000 internally displaced Sudanese there. 

Read more from UNHCR

Briefing notes 
Dated 19 December 2023 - here is a copy in full:

Displacement crisis in Sudan deepens as fighting spread

This is a summary of what was said by Wiliam Spindler – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Refugees from Sudan wait at the Joda border point in South Sudan's Upper Nile State for transportation to the transit centre in Renk. © UNHCR/Ala Kheir

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is concerned at the deepening forced displacement crisis in Sudan and neighbouring countries as hundreds of thousands more people flee from the latest fighting in Sudan’s central Al Jazirah State, southeast of the capital, Khartoum.

We are also very concerned about reports of an escalation in the conflict in the Darfur Region. On 16 December, renewed fighting in El Fasher, in North Darfur, resulted in civilian casualties, injuries, and further displacement, followed by looting of homes and shops, and arrests of youth. In Nyala, in South Darfur, an aerial attack was reported, causing death, injuries and destruction of civilian homes.

Heavy fighting, including airstrikes and shootings, was reported on the outskirts of Wad Madani, the capital of the Al Jazirah State, on Friday, 15 December. The fighting has now reached the town. After conflict first broke out in Sudan’s capital in April this year, over half a million people, including some 7,000 refugees, fled to Wad Madani from Khartoum. 

With this latest bout of fighting, panic has reportedly spread among the civilian population in Wad Madani and people were seen leaving the town in vehicles and on foot, some for the second time in only a few months. According to IOM, between 250,000 and 300,000 people have fled Wad Madani and surrounding areas since the clashes began.  

UNHCR is working to deliver and distribute urgently needed core relief items to the people newly displaced from Al Jazirah to Sennar and Gedaref States. Despite efforts by national and international humanitarian organizations and local actors to provide assistance, the overall humanitarian situation remains dire.

Since the war broke out in April, more than 7 million people have fled their homes in Sudan, many of them moving repeatedly to find temporary safety. This repeated displacement shows how devastating this conflict has been for the civilian population.

We are very worried that if the fighting further escalates and spreads to White Nile State, it could significantly impact the work of UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations that provide critical assistance to over 437,000 South Sudanese refugees and some 433,000 internally displaced Sudanese there. Since the onset of the conflict in April, UNHCR has provided emergency shelter to approximately 42,000 families and core relief items to nearly 12,000 vulnerable families in White Nile State and, in collaboration with UN and NGO partners, has taken measures to mitigate the high risk of a cholera outbreak in displacement sites. However, a spread of the fighting or any new influx could disrupt health and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) services, resulting in severe consequences.

There are also reports of people on the move towards South Sudan, where the border town of Renk is severely overcrowded and lacking enough aid to meet the needs of the people who have already arrived. 

Heavy rains have made the roads impassable, hampering the relocation of refugees. UNHCR and partners are doing what they can to prepare, but resources were already severely overstretched.

We continue to strongly appeal to all parties to end the conflict, to respect the safety of civilians in accordance with international law, and to allow humanitarian access so that critical lifesaving aid and services can reach those in need.

As the scale of the crisis and the potential for it to destabilize the entire region continues to grow, the world must not forget the ongoing situation in Sudan.

We appreciate the funding received already from many donors, but it is just not enough to meet the needs of the families that are facing unimaginable hardship.

The 2023 Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan, which called for $1 billion to meet the needs of 1.8 million people in Chad, Central African Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan this year, is only 38 per cent funded.

For additional information:

• In Sudan: Assadullah Nasrullah, UNHCR, nasrulla@unhcr.org +249 912 178 991 
• In Nairobi: Faith Kasina, UNHCR, kasina@unhcr.org +254 113 427 094
• In Geneva: William Spindler, UNHCR, spindler@unhcr.org; +41 79 549 5998

View original: https://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing-notes/displacement-crisis-sudan-deepens-fighting-spreads

ENDS

Panic grips Sudan as terrorists move toward south. Civilians flee Sudan register at UNHC in Renk S.Sudan

In Tambul, halfway between Khartoum and Wad Madani, witnesses said RSF members rampaged through one of the state's main markets, shooting into the air at random. And many who tried to flee the onslaught were unable to. Activists, who risk their lives to document the horrors, said the RSF had set up checkpoints across the state, stopping civilians as they tried to flee and ordering them to turn back. Read more.

Report from Daily Sabah

By Agence France-Presse - AFP
Al-Jazira State, Sudan
Dated Monday, 25 December 2023 5:54 PM GMT+3 - here is a copy in full:

Panic grips war-hit Sudan as paramilitaries move toward south

Civilians fleeing conflict in Sudan wait for asylum registration procedures at the U.N. High Commissioner, in Renk, South Sudan, Dec. 18, 2023. 

(AFP Photo)

The war-hit Sudan has plunged into a state of panic as reports emerged that the country's notorious paramilitary forces were moving south in their war against the army.

On a countryside road in battle-ravaged Sudan, the hum of a passing vehicle turns villagers' blood cold, fearing their arrival.

"They've created a state of total panic," said Rabab, who lives in a village north of Wad Madani, the Al-Jazira state capital and the latest site of fierce battles between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Like others AFP spoke to, she requested to be identified by first name only out of fear of retaliation from fighters who have consistently targeted civilians during more than eight months of war.

On Saturday at least eight people were killed by RSF fighters in a village in Al-Jazira state, witnesses told AFP, saying they had been shot after trying to stop their looting.

Just south of Khartoum, more than half a million people had sought shelter in Al-Jazira after the fighting overwhelmed the Sudanese capital.

This month, however, paramilitaries pressed deeper into the state and shattered one of the country's few remaining sanctuaries, forcing more than 300,000 people to flee once again, the United Nations said.

Those who remain – unable or unwilling to leave – have found themselves in what the Red Cross has called "another death trap."

Since April 15, Sudan has been gripped by a war pitting army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

By the end of November, at least 12,190 people had been killed in the fighting, according to a conservative estimate from the Armed Conflict and Location Event Data project.

The United Nations says more than 7 million people have been displaced by the war. At least 85,000 had sought refuge in Wad Madani.

In the village of Aykura, 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Wad Madani, one resident told AFP by phone that "the RSF has taken everything – the cars, the trucks, the tractors."

He, too, stressed the need for anonymity to protect him from paramilitary violence.

'At war with us?'

Before the war, Al-Jazira was a key agricultural hub.

However, as the RSF has moved southwards from Khartoum it has taken over swathes of agricultural land and terrorised the farmers that till it.

By Saturday, RSF fighters were seen north of Sennar, about 140 kilometers south of Wad Madani, according to witnesses.

The RSF has become notorious for looting property, with civilians who fled watching in horror as fighters posted videos of themselves on social media taking joyrides in stolen cars and vandalizing homes.

In the market of Hasaheisa, a town 50 kilometers north of Wad Madani, an AFP correspondent saw shop doors flung open with the merchandise looters had not wanted strewn on the ground.

Omar Hussein, 42, stood in the wreckage of his family business.

Every store and vehicle they owned was destroyed. "Is the RSF at war with the army or with us?" he said.

On Saturday, fellow Hasaheisa resident Abdin found "seven men in RSF uniform carrying machine guns" at his door.

They questioned him about the car in his driveway, "and took it at gunpoint."

When Rabab was robbed, she did not receive the courtesy of a knock.

"They fired their guns in front of the house, stormed in and left no room unsearched," she said.

Free rein

Home invasions have been a hallmark of RSF takeovers – as have sexual assaults.

According to Sudan's Combating Violence Against Women Unit, most sexual violence occurs "inside homes, when gunmen – whom survivors describe as wearing RSF uniforms – break in and assault women and girls."

Both the RSF and the army have been accused of a range of systematic violations including indiscriminate shelling of residential neighborhoods, arbitrary detention of civilians and torture.

In Tambul, halfway between Khartoum and Wad Madani, witnesses said RSF members rampaged through one of the state's main markets, shooting into the air at random.

And many who tried to flee the onslaught were unable to.

Activists, who risk their lives to document the horrors, said the RSF had set up checkpoints across the state, stopping civilians as they tried to flee and ordering them to turn back.

Three days into the RSF's assault on Wad Madani, the army said it opened an investigation into "the retreat of forces from their positions" in the city.

Burhan warned every "negligent and complacent person" would be held to account after the RSF – accused of committing atrocities in the Darfur war where it fought on behalf of the army – had free rein.

View original: https://www.dailysabah.com/world/africa/panic-grips-war-hit-sudan-as-paramilitaries-move-toward-south

ENDS

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

THANKS to Lola Hierro (Hola Lola!) for informative reports and photos from Renk, South Sudan. 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.

From EL PLAIS

By LOLA HIERRO (Renk / Madrid)
Dated Tuesday, 12 December 2023 - 23:40 WET - full copy:

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

The Ministry of Health confirms a positive case in the Renk Transit Center, located in the north of the country, where thousands of displaced people are living shoulder to shoulder

Waiting room of the clinic located at the Renk Transit Center in northern South Sudan. ALA KHEIR (UNHCR)

South Sudan’s Ministry of Health has confirmed the first case of cholera in Renk, a city in the far north of the country that is suffering a humanitarian crisis amidst the thousands of people from Sudan who have been displaced since war broke out last April. Sudan has been struggling against an outbreak of the diarrheal disease since September 26 and to date has documented 4,000 cases and 130 deaths.

“The public is advised not to panic, as measures have been put in place to respond to this threat,” the ministry has announced. Nonetheless, in Renk, general sentiment is very different, as described via WhatsApp by Atsuhiko Ochiai, coordinator of a Doctors Without Borders (DWB) clinic located in the Zero settlement of Renk, which has more than 3,500 residents. “[The situation] is getting worse. More people come from Sudan all the time and the water, latrines, food, plastic sheets, hygiene kits, etcetera, are just not enough. Open-air defecation is common,” he warns.

Doctor Ochiai’s fears are due to a minimal health infrastructure. More than 400,000 people have crossed the border in the last eight months. They arrive in impoverished conditions, without money, without a home in which to stay, with no hope of feeding or cleaning themselves or accessing any service beyond what meager humanitarian aid they can obtain. That’s because all the most important United Nations agencies and nonprofits are present in Renk, but the funds available to help the population are not sufficient: only 32% of the more than 225 million euros required by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) have been covered. 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.

A woman cares for her son, who has been admitted to the hospital in Renk, northern South Sudan. ALA KHEIR (UNHCR)

Cholera presents a public health problem in 47 of the world’s poorest countries, where between 1.3 and four million cases are registered annually. The illness is caused by the Vibrio cholerae bacteria, which provokesd intense diarrhea, up to 20 liters a day, which can kill a person within four hours. With adequate treatment — rehydration and antibiotics in the most severe of cases— the death rate does not rise above 1%, but without it, it can soar to 50%.

Renk’s risk lies in the fact that this bacillus is transmitted through contact with contaminated foods and liquids, in conditions of overcrowding and lack of safe access to water and sanitation. This is precisely the scenario in the far north of South Sudan. If the region was already living in poverty and had been punished by nearly a decade of violence caused by internal conflicts, with 74% of the population in need of humanitarian aid, the waves of Sudanese and South Sudanese returnees from the new war have only worsened the situation.

The cholera patient identified at the transit center, a 38-year-old man who had recently crossed the border between the two states, has recovered. For the time being, no other positive cases have been reported. But the fear of new cases is very present. “When community-wide transmission of cholera happens in Renk, it will be catastrophic,” Ochiai predicts.

Doctor Francisco Luquero is the head of the team responsible for high-risk epidemic programs at the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) and was in South Sudan during the 2014-2017 outbreak that affected more than 28,000 people. The doctor explains that since 2019 there have been hardly any cases, and those that have appeared have been very mild thanks to the country’s efforts to control the previous outbreak and the prevention campaigns that have been orchestrated “We know that in these scenarios there is a high risk of transmission and that in these areas it is difficult to provide adequate treatment, so there is concern,” he says over the phone.

With Sudan’s outbreak in mind, World Health Organization (WHO) mechanisms have been activated to avoid cholera’s arrival. These mainly involve the promotion of personal hygiene, especially hand-washing, raising awareness in communities, and distributing hygiene supplies to 3,000 households, including domestic items for transporting water like disinfectants and purifiers. But such measures are nearly impossible to implement when there are thousands of people sleeping outdoors, on muddy ground where rainwater stagnates and forms putrid puddles, and where there is no sewage system or toilets.

Water stagnates between tents where thousands of refugees survive in Renk. ALA KHEIR

A month before cholera had its opening act, fears were already present. In Zero’s mobile clinic, doctor Ferida Manoah hardly had time for a break: many small patients required her attention. Patients like Nya, María’s daughter. The little girl, at just over a year old, was due for a medical check-up. Her mother brought her to the health center, accessible only by a long row of sandbags that had been placed over the stagnant water.

Since she was apparently healthy, María only received some tips on nutrition and hygiene. Above all, the latter. “We have a large number of diarrhea cases and we’ve suspected the presence of typhus, but we aren’t able to test,” said Mahoah. Before the cholera outbreak, diarrhea was the third leading cause of mortality in Renk, after malaria and pneumonia.

A simple, but elusive remedy

The plan to address cholera begins with giving specific information to all health staff and community workers on how to inform authorities if they detect a suspicious case. Until there is confirmation, an outbreak is not announced, but independent of test results, it’s very important to provide treatment to patients to avoid death by dehydration.

Blocking the entrance of the illness at the border would be ideal, but in practice that turns out to be nearly impossible. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has health stations open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., which means that for 10 hours a day there is no one available to test. Not to mention, with 2,000 to 3,000 people crossing every day, even if the stations were open 24 hours, it would be very difficult to evaluate everyone who passes through.

Drinking water station in the field of Joda, where thousands of people wait weeks to be transported to the Renk Transit Center in South Sudan. 

LOLA HIERRO

Luquero thinks that prevention at the border is not realistic because similar to people affected by Covid-19, a patient can be contagious and also asymptomatic, something that occurs in 80% of cases. Nonetheless, for him it “is super necessary to replenish kits to treat the sick, because rehydration saves lives.”

The GAVI leader trusts in the skills South Sudan showed in the past thanks to its prevention strategy. “South Sudan has taken a lot of initiative in vaccination, reactive as well as preventative,” he says. They have implemented various campaigns and since 2019, received more than three million doses through the Global Task Force on Cholera Control. “It’s true that it’s a very fragile country, but it’s also a case in which they’ve been able to successfully control a national outbreak,” he says.

Immunization campaigns, however, have not yet arrived to Renk. Luquero thinks it would be best to solicit them as soon as possible from the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision, which is in charge of emergency requests. “It’s one method that can be used to access the doses more quickly, linked to the humanitarian crisis in the north, without having to make a global vaccination plan,” he says. “What we need to do is to make a good epidemiological assessment as quickly as possible and, based on that, send the vaccine request as quickly as possible. And I emphasize speed.”

View original: https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-12-12/cholera-crosses-the-sudanese-border-and-bursts-into-south-sudan-refugee-camps.html

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