900 new IDPs arrive in Central Darfur’s Golo in July

July 26, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – The central Darfur authorities and local leaders of internally displaced persons (IDPs) are discussing the relocation of 900 people who fled their homes in East Jebel Marra locality.

The Sudanese government forces sporadically clash with the fighters of the Sudan Liberation Movement-Abdel Wahid (SLM/AW) in different areas in Jebel Marra, as a result, hundreds of villagers continue to move in the mountainous area fleeing their homes.

In its bimonthly bulletin, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that about 900 IDPs arrived in early July to Golo where the peacekeeping mission is establishing its headquarters.

The state authorities hosted them in the Golo primary school, but it is overcrowded and without sanitation facilities. Also, the school is expected to open in October.

“Finding alternative accommodation for the IDPs is of the utmost importance,” OCHA said adding that Local authorities and IDP leaders are currently negotiating their relocation to another area.

The UN peacekeepers truck water to the school. Also, the latrines at the school are insufficient but the problem of hygiene cannot be resolved quickly because the construction of new latrines is pending the relocation of the IDPs.

“If this is not addressed soon, sanitation will further deteriorate, potentially increasing the likelihood of disease outbreaks given the start of the rainy season,” said the humanitarian bulletin.

ACUTE MALNUTRITION

Among the new IDPs, seven cases of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and 20 cases of moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) were reported as of 11 July.

All the cases were referred to treatment in Golo hospital.

“However, the hospital has reported a gap in ready-to-use-supplementary foods (RUSD) due to a disruption in the supply pipeline last month,” said OCHA.

For its part, the WFP distributed one-month food rations for the displaced persons.

(ST)