Fleeing Sudan's brutal conflict

Thousands of exhausted South Sudanese return home

  • Olul Ngok: After the risk of flight there is more violence. A.B

  • People are making the arduous journey to cross the border into South Sudan. A.B

  • Returnees sit outside a nutrition center. A.B

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Tens of thousands of exhausted people are heading back to the world's newest nation, fleeing the brutal conflict in neighbouring Sudan.

There, men, women and children camping near the territorial borders of Sudan and South Sudan face a dilemma, while the international community and the Government are concerned about the ongoing conflict.

Fighting between Sudan's military and rival militia killed at least 863 civilians in Sudan before a seven-day ceasefire began on Monday night.

Many in South Sudan worry about what could happen if fighting continues in the neighbouring country.

Sitting on the floor outside a church, Olul Ngok from South Sudan said: "After the risk of escape there is more violence."

"There is no food, no shelter, we are completely stranded, I am very tired and need to leave."

Olol Ngok thought she would be safe returning home after fleeing clashes in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, where she saw three relatives killed.

She and her five children arrived in Renk in South Sudan, where people live on the floor, some sleeping next to their belongings piled up near thin mats.

The women prepared the food in large cooking pots, while the teenagers walked aimlessly.

Days after Ngoc and her family arrived, she said a man was beaten to death with sticks in a battle that began with a water dispute.

Slow activation

Years of fighting between the government and opposition forces in South Sudan have killed some 400,<> people and displaced millions until a peace deal was signed nearly five years ago.

A strong peace deal is slowly taking effect in South Sudan, where the state has yet to deploy a unified army and has not drafted a permanent constitution.

Large-scale clashes between key parties have subsided, but fighting continues in parts of the country.

South Sudan has billions of dollars in oil reserves that transport it to international markets via a pipeline that runs through Sudan in territory controlled by the warring parties.

Ferenc David Marco, a researcher at the International Crisis Group, warned that if the pipeline was damaged, South Sudan's economy would collapse within months.

However, the most pressing concern is the tens of thousands of South Sudanese returning with no idea how to return home in their towns and villages.

Many are unable to afford the journey, while aid organizations and the government are under intense pressure about the resources they can use to provide assistance.

50,<> people have crossed into the border town of Renk, where many are staying in huts along the road and in government buildings across the town.

Some wander aimlessly in the market, desperately asking strangers how to return home, when people arrive faster, enabling them to be moved to new locations.

The longer they stay, the greater the risk of inter-communal fighting, as many suffer long-standing grievances caused by the civil war.

Many are frustrated because they don't know what awaits them.

The power struggle in South Sudan between Dinka President Salva Kiir and his deputy, Riek Machar, a Nuer, took on an ethnic dimension during the civil war.

Local communities in Renk said the conflict over water in May, which killed the man with sticks, quickly turned into a wider conflict between ethnic groups, forcing people to flee again.

divide

Initially, the local government wanted to divide South Sudanese returning via the Renk, based on their country of origin.

But humanitarian organizations backed away from the idea. Together with the government and community leaders, aid organizations are engaged in peace dialogues.

Johannes William, head of the government's humanitarian arm in Upper Nile state, said: "We are concerned (about more violence)."

William added: "The services provided here are limited. He told us that this is a temporary accommodation center, anyone who comes here should stay two or three days and then leave."

"But right now, unfortunately, due to the delay in the transfer, they have been here for more than two and three weeks," William said.

Located at the northernmost tip of South Sudan, the Renk is connected to other parts of the country by a few roads.

The main roads are airlines or boat trips along the Nile, and many people cannot afford them.

The United Nations' International Organization for Migration (IOM) is trying to send the most vulnerable South Sudanese nationals, who have returned home by boat, estimated to number about eight thousand people.

It aims to transport nearly a thousand people a day along the Nile River to the state capital Malakal.

However, flights have just begun, and coordination problems between aid organizations and the government at the port this month delayed the departure of people, along with children, infants and patients, forcing them to stay in empty boats for days in the scorching sun.

Concerns

Aid workers say it could take two months to ease congestion in the nearly doubled city.

But Malakal is already hosting 44,<> displaced people in a UN protection camp, and many remain deeply afraid to leave for security reasons.

Nicholas Haysom, the UN secretary-general's representative in South Sudan, told The Associated Press: "The problem lies in the dilemma of trading with fire from Ramda, because we are taking them to Malakal, and Malakal itself is crowded."

Some who have already returned to Malakal from Sudan say they are unsure if there is a home to return to, because they did not contact their families during the civil war.

William Ding said: "I don't know if my relatives are alive or dead."

The 33-year-old has been unable to speak to his family in neighbouring Jonglei state, which has been suffering from a lack of telephone services since his return in early May.

The government says it has funding for ten charter flights to transport people from the Renk, to hard-to-reach areas by boat, but the small Renk airport cannot support the larger planes, so each flight can carry only 80 people.

Michael Dunford, WFP Regional Director for East Africa, said: "The situation is dire. (South Sudan) is currently forced to take in additional refugees and returnees, and as a result the humanitarian needs in the country will grow."

Even before this crisis, 70 percent of the population was in need of humanitarian assistance, and the WFP could not meet their needs, he said.

Traders in Renk, who get the majority of their goods from Sudan, say they already feel economically struggling with prices rising by 70 percent.

Adam Abdullah Hassan said: "I used to send my family $100 a week. Currently I send half of that amount."

Few pieces of information

He stated that the Sudanese shopkeeper supports his family in Sudan, but now earns less, because people do not have enough money.

Returnees say they have received little information about where or how they are supposed to return home, and fear they will not return in time before the soon-to-be-start rainy season, causing roads to sink and making flight more difficult.

Ilham Saad, one of these returnees, said: "How can we stay here in the rain with the children?"

The 42-year-old woman, holding her U.N. bracelet, said she had been staying in Renk for about three weeks.

She said she had no idea how to get to South Sudan's capital, Juba, where she and her family lived before the war.

She said her only option now is to find a way home and be reunited with her husband and son. "Home is home. Even if there's a fight, even if you're going around the world even if the worst option is home."

The most pressing concern is the tens of thousands of South Sudanese who return with no idea how to return home in their towns and villages.

Years of fighting between the government and opposition forces in South Sudan have killed some 400,<> people and displaced millions until a peace deal was signed nearly five years ago.

South Sudan has billions of dollars in oil reserves that transport it to international markets via a pipeline that passes through Sudan in territory controlled by the warring parties.