SOUTHERN SUDAN HUMANITARIAN UPDATE - NORTHERN BAHR EL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KHARTOUM 000877 AIDAC SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/SPG, S/CRS, PRM, AF SE WILLIAMSON DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SP, USAID/W DCHA SUDAN NAIROBI FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA, USAID/EA, AND FAS GENEVA FOR NKYLOH NAIROBI FOR SFO NSC FOR PMARCHAM, MMAGAN, AND BPITTMAN ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU NEW YORK FOR FSHANKS BRUSSELS FOR PBROWN USMISSION UN ROME FOR RNEWBERG E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID PREF PGOV PHUM SOCI UN SU SUBJECT: SOUTHERN SUDAN HUMANITARIAN UPDATE - NORTHERN BAHR EL GHAZAL STATE KHARTOUM 00000877 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. Summary: From May 19 to 23, a USAID team, including officers from the Office of Food for Peace (USAID/FFP) and Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA),reviewed the humanitarian situation in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State (NBEG). The team looked at the problem of malnutrition and food insecurity, as well as the overall situation of returnees in the state. In terms of food security, the team found that although NBEG had lower than normal agricultural production in 2007 and the grain trade from the North was stopped for several months due to border insecurity, these food security stresses have not resulted in a crisis to date. The main reasons for this situation relate to the affected population's ability to resort to traditional coping mechanisms to supplement food intake, including fishing, foraging for wild foods, and milk consumption, as well as aid agencies' varied food security and nutrition activities. According to the U.N. Mission in Sudan's Return, Reintegration, and Recovery report, NBEG has received approximately 417,800 returning internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees since 2004 -- more than any other state in Southern Sudan. The returnees' arrival and reintegration into home communities has gone relatively smoothly, without major problems. End Summary. Returns -------------- ¶2. Out of the ten states in Southern Sudan, NBEG has received the highest number of returnees. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM),70,000 people returned to NBEG in ¶2007. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Nyamlel, Aweil West County told the USAID team that an estimated 75 percent of the returnees settled in Aweil West and North Counties. Adeptly managing the recovery and reintegration process of this large cohort of returnees is a daunting task for humanitarian organizations and local authorities and will require focused attention and resources for several more years. ¶3. To date, the 2008 returns season has seen fewer returns than the previous two years, with only 7,246 organized returnees and 8,000 to 10,000 spontaneous returnees verified as of May 2008. Returns agencies that met with the USAID team cited insecurity along the North-South border areas, particularly in the Abyei area, as the major reason that fewer returnees arrived in NBEG this season. Specifically, the closure of the Meriam-Aweil road due to insecurity from December 2007 to April 2008 blocked a major return route to the state. (Note: In a meeting with a local official, the road closure was blamed on northern attempts to prevent the return of southerners in time for the April census. End Note.) In addition, aid agencies believe that the persistent border insecurity reduced the number of Dinka IDPs in South Darfur returning spontaneously from the Ed Daein area. ¶4. Return organizations noted difficulties with ongoing state-sponsored returns from Khartoum and Omdurman, especially the lack of prior notice of arrival of truck convoys, which slows the assistance, such as food and household items, provided by agencies. Also, some returnees do not have a clear idea of the lack of services and infrastructure in rural destinations. USAID raised these points in a meeting with the Deputy Governor who agreed to give advance notice to U.N. agencies and NGOs on the state-organized convoys. USAID also encouraged U.N. agencies and NGOs to actively seek cooperation from the local authorities on this issue. Recent Displacement from Border Areas -------------- ¶5. Another layer of complexity to the population movement dynamics in the state is the renewed internal displacement of populations. According to NGOs, the border demarcation issue is affecting the area, specifically the disputed border between NBEG and South Darfur and the border between Abyei and NBEG. Aid organizations and local authorities are dealing with recovery and reintegration of returnees KHARTOUM 00000877 002.2 OF 003 on one hand, and on the other with the relief needs of the newly displaced. In December 2007, insecurity displaced an estimated 12,000 people from areas close to the South Darfur-NBEG and the Abyei-NBEG borders. ¶6. The current Abyei crisis has brought a new wave of IDPs to NBEG. As of May 27, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that nearly 1,200 IDPs had arrived in Mabil and Malualkon towns in Aweil East County from Abyei. On May 22, the USAID team visited the IDP site at Mabil, met humanitarian agencies and local authorities, and interviewed several IDP families. The U.N. and NGO team found that some of the IDPs who fled fighting in Abyei are also returnees, who were slowly making their way to areas of origin in NBEG and had stopped in Abyei. In addition, some of the Abyei IDPs who initially fled into NBEG are ethnic Twic Dinka and are expected to travel onwards to Twic County, Warrab State, in order to reside with relatives. ¶7. The USAID team found that local authorities and return agencies in NBEG have responded quickly and effectively to the newly displaced from Abyei. Non-food items (NFIs) and food assistance was provided within days of the Abyei IDPs' arrival. Verification of the newly displaced is fast and well managed, and coordination is strong. Of particular interest to the USAID team was the effectiveness of local authorities in tracking and monitoring the newly displaced, as well as the ongoing returns. In the previous two years of heavy returns, it was impossible to know how many people had actually returned. Agencies reported numbers and locations of IDPs that received assistance to return, but estimate that 90 percent of the returnees travel on their own and are were not well tracked. ¶8. This year, USAID/OFDA funded returnee enumerators in every payam (district) in Southern Sudan, as part of a grant to IOM. The payam enumerators, who work for the Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, were given bicycles and cash incentives. County coordinators were given motorbikes and satellite phones. The information is fed up through state offices to Juba and Khartoum. This year for the first time, a fuller picture is emerging of the total number of returnees and villages of return, which facilitates planning and provision of assistance by NGOs and U.N. agencies in the more remote, rural areas. Malnutrition -------------- ¶9. Malnutrition rates are chronically high in NBEG due to a variety of cultural and environmental factors, particularly during the rainy season, which corresponds with the hunger gap, starting from May until the main sorghum harvest in September-October. However, relief organizations now fear t