UN to provide emergency support Pibor displaced people

January 7, 2012 (JUBA/PANYAGOR) – Humanitarian agencies are mounting a major emergency operation in Jonglei state in South Sudan to help people affected by the recent wave of inter-communal violence, according to a UN press release.

The commissioner of Pibor County says that over 3,000 members of the Murle tribe were killed in the revenge attack by the Luo Nuer ethnic group.

From June to December 2011 over 1,000 were killed in raids in which cattle were stolen, women and children abducted, and homes burnt. The attack over New Year is a massive escalation in the conflict between the two rival cattle herding tribes.

“The Government of South Sudan has declared Jonglei a disaster zone and asked humanitarian agencies to accelerate life-saving assistance. We’re responding to that call,” the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, Lise Grande, said in a statement on Saturday.

Humanitarian agencies estimate that up to 100,000 people have been displaced by the violence. Most of those who need assistance have been hiding in the bush for up to two weeks, in many cases without food, clean water or shelter.

Agencies have assisted the evacuation of more than 140 seriously wounded people from the area. Emergency teams are on the ground providing assistance in the Pibor and Boma areas. Teams are mobilising to reach Walgak and in three villages which have been burnt to the ground, Likuangole, Fertait and Bilait.

Preliminary results of assessments in hard-hit areas indicate that the most urgent needs include high-nutritional food, clean water, health care and shelter.

“This emergency operation is going to be one of the most complex and expensive in South Sudan since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in 2005. With the exception of Boma, the areas we need to access are extremely remote and can only be reached by air,” Grande said.

The most recent spike in inter-communal violence has compounded an already difficult humanitarian situation in South Sudan. In 2011 more than 350,000 people had been displaced by rebellions against the government, cattle raids and revenge attacks, according to reports by local authorities and assessment teams.

“Although humanitarian partners are facing major obstacles, we will do what we can to help the Government meet urgent needs,” said Grande.

“And delivering assistance by air is hugely expensive compared to delivery by road. Unfortunately, in the areas affected in Jonglei, we don’t have a choice,” said Grande.

Jonglei is not the only state struggling to cope with large numbers of displaced people.

Conflict in north Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile states has forced 75,000 people to seek refuge in South Sudan’s Unity and Upper Nile states since June. Humanitarian partners are also responding to emergency needs among the 360,000 South Sudanese who have returned from Sudan since late 2010.

“Before the crisis in Jonglei, humanitarian partners were already over-stretched. In some of the worst-hit places, there are only a handful partners on the ground. In some places, there are none. Although humanitarian partners are facing major obstacles, we will do what we can to help the Government meet urgent needs,” said Ms. Grande.

South Sudan officially became an independent July last year, following a 2005 peace deal north Sudan. There have been sporadic cross-border attacks since.

But internal violence between the Lou Nuer and the Murle tribes is a reminder of the challenges the world’s newest country faces inside its own borders.

On Tuesday Grande said the death toll could be anywhere from dozens to hundreds.

The UN’s World Food Program says it has delivered emergency rations to feed 1,000 people in Pibor for two weeks, and expects to reach 7,000 more people in the coming days. It has also distributed food packages for 2,000 internally displaced people at Boma.

On Thursday, Herve Ladsous, the undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations, called the situation in Jonglei “a very serious crisis.”

“I think the problem we face in this particular region of Jonglei state is one of access, because there are no roads and we have insufficient helicopters,” he told reporters following his address to the Security Council. He said the UN had reinforced its staff in the area and that the South Sudanese government should try to do the same.

(ST)