Sudan's Returnees Continue to Face Poor Conditions at Home
An overwhelming majority of the 1.9 million Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs) and refugees who have returned to Southern Kordofan
and to Southern Sudan since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace
Agreement in January 2005 continue to face insurmountable
challenges accessing basic services and facilities, says IOM's
return tracking and the four village assessment reports published
today.
The data for tracking comprehensive report was compiled over the
past three years by 1,400 trained staff from the South Sudan Relief
and Rehabilitation Commission (SSRRC) and the Voluntary Return and
Reintegration Committee (VRRC).
The reports show that an estimated 200,000 returnees underwent
secondary displacement because they could not access vital basic
facilities and services such as safe drinking water, healthcare and
education.
According to the report, a third of all communities in Southern
Kordofan and Southern Sudan continue to use rivers and unprotected
wells as their main source of water. In Unity State and in Northern
Bahr El Ghazal, 77 per cent and 68 per cent of the villages do not
have access to safe drinking water because of broken hand
pumps.
Access to adequate healthcare facilities and qualified personnel
remains extremely scarce with more than 90 per cent of villages in
Warrap, Northern Bahr El Ghazal, Southern Kordofan and Unity remain
have no health facilities whatsoever. Basic medical infrastructures
were found in only 9 per cent of all villages and only 5 per cent
had qualified medical doctors.
The report also finds that close to 80 per cent of the villages
assessed in Warrap, Unity and Northern Bahr El Ghazal do not have
direct access to basic primary schools and that the few existing
schools were simple outdoors facilities.
"IOM's return tracking and village assessments provide important
life-saving information about returnees and their host
communities," says IOM's Mario Tavolaj. "Quantifying return
trends and qualifying the needs of returnees will help the
humanitarian community address some of the most urgent needs to
ensure all returns are sustainable."
The Returns Tracking Programme is funded by the United Nations
Common Humanitarian Fund (UNCHF), the European Commission for
Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), the Office of US Foreign Disaster
Assistance (OFDA/USAID), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the
Government of Norway.
The Village Assessments Programme has received financial support
from ECHO, OFDA/USAID, AusAID International Refugee Fund, the
Government of Japan, UNCHF and the United Nations 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
or
Ingeborg Zorn
IOM Juba
Tel: +249 910 623 519
E-mail:
"mailto:izorn@iom.int">izorn@iom.int