Sudan's Returnees Continue to Confront Challenges at Home
An overwhelming majority of the 2 million Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs) who have returned to Southern Sudan and Southern
Kordofan since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in
January 2005 continue to confront many challenges once they have
returned to their villages of origin, says IOM's latest village
assessments and returnee monitoring report published today.
The report, which was compiled in partnership with the South
Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (SSRRC) of the
Government of South Sudan and with the support of the Government of
National Unity, the Humanitarian Aid Commission, the United Nations
Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), the Sudan Red Crescent and partner NGOs,
underlines that most returnees cannot access basic services and
facilities, such as clean water, healthcare and education.
The data collected by some 300 SSRRC enumerators in 4,905 villages
in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Warrab and Southern Kordofan States,
shows that almost a third of all communities use rivers and
unprotected wells as their main source of water. Only 39 per cent
of the villages have hand pumps, with more than a third broken at
the time of the survey, which took place from June 2008 to April
2009.
"Although the authorities and international organizations are
now deploying considerable efforts to provide access to safe
drinking water, more needs to be done to ensure existing pumps are
properly serviced," says Mario Tavolaj, IOM's Chief of Mission in
Sudan.
Lack of access to adequate healthcare facilities and qualified
personnel remains problematic throughout the region, with basic
medical infrastructures to be found in only 9 per cent of the
villages. Only 4 per cent of all health care facilities had
medical doctors and levels of HIV/AIDS awareness remained very
low.
The report also finds that only 29 per cent of the villages had
direct access to basic primary schools and that a third of the
schools were simple outdoor facilities.
In Southern Kordofan, 41 per cent of the students are girls
whilst in South Sudan only 26 per cent of the pupils are
girls.
When it comes to income-generation activities, the report notes
that the overwhelming majority of returnees live from farming and
livestock rearing, with some of the income generated being used to
buy additional food at the market.
"The assessments at village level provide important information
on the needs of returnees and host communities," says IOM's Mario
Tavolaj. "They represent an important tool for the planning
of medium to long-term recovery in Southern Kordofan and Southern
Sudan."
This report was funded by the United Nations Common Humanitarian
Fund, the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), the
Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA/USAID), AusAID
International Refugee Fund, the Government of Japan and the UN
Development Programme (UNDP).
For more information, please contact:
Alghribawy Mayssa
IOM Khartoum
Tel: +249 183 570 801 to 804
E-mail:
"mailto:malghribawy@iom.int">malghribawy@iom.int