Tens of thousands lack clean water in Malakal, southern Sudan

NAIROBI, June 25, 2004 (IRIN) — Eighty percent of Malakal’s 120,000 residents
and most of the 35,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in and around
the town have no clean drinking water, according to the UN.

The town’s water plant, which normally purified Nile water for Malakal’s
residents, had not been operational for a month, Nadia el Maaroufi, an
official with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA), told IRIN. “People are taking water direct from the Nile, leading
to an unknown number of deaths and cases of diarrhoea,” she said. “We do
not know how many people are dying.”

According to the Sudanese Ministry of Engineering Affairs and Public
Utilities in Malakal, incorrect water-tank construction (elevation should
be 33 metres instead of 22), coupled with inadequate power supplies and
piping systems, have caused the problems.

But nothing had been done to repair the plant, said el Maaroufi. “No
repairs have been made yet. The number-one priority is to provide clean
water and sanitation.” UNICEF was working with the ministry to rectify the
problem, she added.

About 25,000 IDPs are camped in Malakal, the gateway to southern Sudan in
Upper Nile, and a further 10,000 in camps outside the town, known as
Canal, Obel 1, 2 and 3 and Dulayb Hill. Tens of thousands more are
scattered along the Nile in unknown areas of the Shilluk Kingdom. With no
NGOs or UN presence on the ground, it is impossible to determine how many.

Since the beginning of the year, a steady flow of IDPs has been arriving
in Malakal, who are either camping under trees or staying with relatives
and friends, according to OCHA.

The Shilluk Kingdom around the garrison town of Malakal became
destabilised after 25 October 2003, when Lam Akol, the leader of a
government-allied militia, re-defected from the government side to the
rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). Until then, the
area had enjoyed the enviable distinction of having stayed out of Sudan’s
civil war.

As a result of a power vacuum created by Akol’s realignment, Khartoum
brought in Nuer militias to keep control of the area, according to the
Institute of Security Studies (ISS) think-tank.

Some of Akol’s Shilluk forces did not support his move back to the SPLM/A,
and were divided over whether or not to fight their former partners. For
the first time in many months, government forces had become embroiled in
the conflict, while the militias razed an unknown number of villages to
the ground, looting and killing along the way, ISS reported.

Whereas there has been no formal registration of the IDPs, local sources
say at least 100,000 have been displaced. IDPs outside of Malakal have so
far received no assistance, which will begin next week when the World Food
Programme starts distributing food there, according to el Maaroufi.

Humanitarian workers had been unable to conduct detailed assessments of
their needs due to delays in being granted travel permits, she added. The
affected area along the Nile is controlled by both the SPLM/A and
government-allied militias, necessitating agreement from both sides to
work “cross-line”, she said.

Meanwhile, the rainy season has started in Upper Nile, rendering the IDPs
even less accessible to aid workers, and more susceptible to malaria and
other illnesses.

With the militias – reportedly numbering up to 2,000 – still at large, the
IDPs say they cannot go back to their homes. “The IDPs are gravely
concerned about their security – they do not feel secure enough to return
home. They are afraid of the militias coming back to launch further
attacks,” said el Maaroufi.

Yet another concern is the impending arrival of thousands more IDPs and
economic migrants in Malakal, once a comprehensive peace agreement has
been signed between the SPLM/A and Khartoum, according to OCHA.

The stretch along the Nile from Kosti to Malakal would become a “major
route” for returnees to southern Sudan, who would arrive in barges or by
land from either northern Sudan or Ethiopia, el Maaroufi told IRIN.

Meanwhile, she said, the UN had little funding to provide the returnees
with food or shelter: the annual inter-agency appeal for Sudan had
received less than 15 percent of the US $510 million requested for areas
outside Darfur.