Culture shock for many southern returnees

(IRIN) – Sudanese are returning from the north of the country to their homeland in the south or the border region of Abyei in growing numbers in the run-up to key referendums on 9 January, but many are struggling to adapt to an impoverished, war-ravaged environment.

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UN Beefs Up Monitoring of Returnees in South

As part of its efforts to assist in the return of refugees and displaced persons, the United Nations in Sudan has enhanced its monitoring of the number of people going back to their homes in the country’s south.

Speaking at a press conference in Khartoum today, the UN Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Georg Charpentier, said the UN and its partners, in collaboration with national and state authorities, have enhanced monitoring of departures in the country’s north, as well as in key transit hubs and return areas.

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Radio clampdown criticized

(IRIN) – A recent move by the Sudanese government to shut down Radio Dabanga, one of the few stations still reporting on the conflict in Darfur, comes at a critical point in Sudan’s politics, human rights and media officials say, as the country prepares for a January referendum when the South could secede from the North.

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Deportation news led to Darfuri’s suicide

By Robert Verkaik

The prospect of certain torture in Sudan was too much for Abdullah Idris, but serious failings in Britain led to his death.

Abdullah Hagar Idris had been counting the days to his release from prison so he could start a new life in Britain after fleeing persecution in his Darfur homeland.

But on Christmas Eve 2007 a prison officer handed the 18-year-old a document making it clear that the Home Office had decided he was to be kept behind bars pending deportation.

The news came as a cruel shock to the young man who could not bear the thought of returning to Sudan where he knew he would be hunted down and murdered by the feared Arab militia.

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Seeds for Sudan’s survival, recovery

By Bill Deans

Amid the news stories of Sudan’s political unrest, instability and ongoing economic hardships, we rarely get a glimpse of this nation’s people and how they have been impacted. Devastated by decades of violence, famine, genocide, persecution and disease, so many Sudanese people are without basic human needs of food, water, shelter, clothing and medicine.

While pundits theorize and criticize Sudan’s government and politics, or lack thereof, the Sudanese people continue to suffer the consequences. Above all else, the critical needs of the men, women and children in this desperate place should be foremost in our minds.

I have come to understand the deep-rooted political, cultural and religious divides in Sudan and the complexities of the nation’s government and politics which have left hundreds of thousands dead and millions more displaced, hungry, sick and poor. But I believe that if we focus on caring for people and helping to meet their basic needs, we can plant seeds of change and transformation in their hearts.

Already, I have seen this approach begin to take root. As a volunteer with Mustard Seed International, a relief ministry that operates the Akot Medical Mission in South Sudan, deemed by the native people as one of the best medical facilities in all of Sudan, I have seen and heard first-hand the unbelievable suffering and witnessed miraculous resilience in their lives.

Recently, 101 cataract surgery procedures were performed at the Akot Medical Mission, restoring sight to people who, just days before, had no possibility of ever seeing again. Can you imagine what this act of compassion meant to those receiving the surgery, how it will change their lives and the lives of those who love them?

In early January, I traveled with a small team of Akot Medical Mission staff to a remote area of the bush. At that time, most of the local Sudanese had fled their mud huts and villages due to an outbreak of factional fighting. In the midst of such circumstance, people still get sick and babies continue to be born. In a part of the world where the infant mortality rate is staggeringly high and numerous people don’t have access to an actual doctor, our staff was compelled to do something rather than just leave these desperate people to suffer even more. On that day, our team set up under a tree and began treating more than a hundred people, several needing to be transported back to the mission for in-patient care. One of those was a critically ill, one-month-old baby who would not have survived without the immediate treatment provided in the hospital setting.

I have learned that when you can meet someone’s most basic physical need, like medical care for a mother’s dying baby, mosquito netting to prevent malaria, and food or clean drinking water, you empower them with perhaps the most essential need of all -
hope. Just as much as food and water, hope may very well be that which the Sudanese hunger and thirst for the most.

At Akot, when we treat people and give them medicine, they walk away healthier but also more whole, with some understanding that God loves and cares for them amid the pain, hunger, drought and violence to which they are so accustomed. We are privileged to be one of many organizations in Sudan working to help the afflicted people there. We may never be able to fix the political and economic infrastructure of Sudan, but its people are in need of hope – something we can provide.

Bill Deans serves as the president of Mustard Seed International (MSI), a relief ministry that cares for suffering people in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Eastern Europe.

Sudan’s Dangerous Trajectory

By Sean P.Brooks

A new military offensive in Darfur, the arrest of political leaders, and the shutting down of newspapers in Khartoum: election season must be over in Sudan. Emboldened by electoral “success,” Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir and his National Congress Party (NCP) are sending troubling signals about their philosophy that will guide post-election governance.

The push last Friday by the Sudanese Armed Forces to regain control over a stronghold of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in West Darfur kicked off seven days of violence and repression. The army reported that it killed 108 JEM fighters in the assault. Elsewhere in Darfur, JEM allegedly attacked a tanker truck killing 20 Sudanese police officers. Continued clashes between nomadic tribes and the kidnapping of humanitarian aid workers — including an American — have only heightened tensions throughout Darfur.

Commenting yesterday on these recent developments before the United Nations Security Council, the Joint Special Representative for the United Nations/African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) stated that continued fighting in Darfur has “caused substantial civilian casualties, the displacement of communities, and hampered the delivery of humanitarian assistance.” The U.S. State Department earlier in the week also condemned the “recent offensive actions in Darfur” and “urged both the Government of Sudan and the Darfur rebel movements to refrain from any further actions that would undermine the Darfur peace process or endanger civilians.”

Yet, blithely ignoring the deteriorating conditions in Darfur, an NCP leader told Darfuri students this week that his party was seeking to deepen peace and foster a culture of national unity (article in Arabic). Most people in Darfur instead fear that the faltering peace process, government offensive, and continuing crisis in Jebel Marra proffer a new post-election reality.

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HRW Letter to EU Foreign Ministers on Sudan

To Foreign Ministers of EU Member States

Dear Minister:

We write with regard to the upcoming presidential inauguration of Omar al-Bashir, scheduled for May 27, 2010, to express deep concern over reports that diplomatic representatives of your government might attend the inauguration.

As you know, President al-Bashir is subject to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in March 2009 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for atrocities committed in Darfur. States parties are obligated to cooperate with the ICC under the court’s Rome Statute, and states should demonstrate support for its work. Consistent with these objectives, ICC states parties should not attend meetings or events with al-Bashir unless absolutely essential.

An inauguration cannot in our view be justified as an essential meeting. Notably, United Nations (UN) guidelines that limit UN contact with indicted individuals state that “[t]he presence of UN representatives in any ceremonial or similar occasion with [persons indicted by international criminal courts] should be avoided.” ICC states parties should follow the same principles regarding their possible interactions with persons subject to ICC arrest warrants.

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Darfur clashes worsen Humanitarian situation in the South

IRIN – Weeks of fighting in parts of Darfur have raised concern over the plight of civilians, as insecurity has prompted humanitarian agencies to suspend activities in some areas.

The clashes have led to displacements in eastern Jebel Marra in South Darfur and North Darfur states, and in western Jebel Marra and the Jebel Moon region in West Darfur state, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in an update on 2 March, stressing that accurate information from the ground was very scarce because of lack of access.

The rebel Sudan Liberation Army, Abdel Wahid Nour faction (SLA-Nour), which refuses to join peace talks with the Sudanese government until a full cessation of hostilities is implemented, has accused government forces of attacking its positions east of Jebel Marra.

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ERITREA-SUDAN: A forgotten refugee problem

Photo: Maram Mazen/IRIN

A boy at Shagarab refugee camp: Shagarab, with the worst conditions among the three biggest camps in eastern Sudan, houses more than 21,000 mostly Eritrean refugees, in addition to some Ethiopians and Somalis.

Eastern Sudan hosts more than 66,000 registered Eritrean refugees, the first of whom arrived in 1968 during the early years of Eritrea’s war of independence against Ethiopia. These days, Eritrea’s policy of indefinite military conscription, coupled with drought and poor economic opportunities, prompt some 1,800 people to cross into Sudan every month, according to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR.

“Refugees have been here for the past 30-40 years, which is two to three generations, and that is quite unique,” said Peter de Clercq, the UNHCR representative in Sudan.

“It is as far as we know the longest-standing refugee situation in Africa that is still protracted. That is mostly because of the political situation inside Eritrea,” he said.

As they planned for their big escape to Europe or Israel, asylum-seekers dreamed of a better life in Sudan. But instead, thousands woke up to the realities of the grim camp conditions, lacking food security or proper healthcare, and sharing scarce resources with Sudanese nationals. On arrival at the reception centre at Shagarab camp in Kassala state, near the Eritrean border, they are not immediately provided with proper shelter. Only when their refugee status is confirmed, which can take four to six weeks, are they able to move into tents or huts, which they often have to build themselves.

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SUDAN: Increasing hunger could fuel conflict in south

Photo: Peter Martell/IRIN

Southern Sudanese women drag bags of grain to a central collection point in the village of Pochalla, Jonglei State

An increasing number of people in Southern Sudan cannot find enough to eat or adequate pasture and water for their livestock, raising fears of conflict between communities over grazing lands, local leaders warned.

“Where there was peace, there was no rain and then where there were good rains, there was insecurity,” Kuol Manyang, governor of Jonglei State, said.

His counterpart from Upper Nile State, Gutlauk Deng Garang, warned that hunger would force pastoralist cattle herders to move their animals, sharply increasing the likelihood of clashes with rival ethnic groups.

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