Displaced persons arrive in South Sudan from Sudan through the Jodah crossing.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva today, Dominique Hyde, Director of UNHCR's Department of External Relations, said that at a time when the conflict in Sudan is receding from the limelight and headlines, its reach and brutality are growing, and violations of international humanitarian law are becoming more common. At the same time, an unimaginable humanitarian crisis is unfolding across Sudan.
In April, Dohyde noted, conflict erupted in Sudan without warning, turning once-peaceful homes into graves.
Displacement crisis
To date, 4.5 million people have been displaced within Sudan and 1.2 million have fled to neighbouring countries such as Chad, Egypt, South Sudan, Ethiopia and the Central African Republic. The vast majority of these refugees are women and children, and in the Central African Republic, the proportion of women and children is even close to 90 per cent.
Doheid said the recent fighting in Darfur has led to more displacement, with thousands of people even unable to find shelter and many sleeping under roadside trees. She reminded that the atrocities committed in Darfur 20 years ago are now reappearing again and without much attention, "which is really despicable".
White Nile is overwhelmed
Last week, Dohyde visited White Nile State in southeastern Sudan. It is estimated that more than 433,000 IDPs have fled to the state. Before the conflict began, nearly 300,000 refugees were already in 10 camps in White Nile State, most of them from South Sudan.
Doheid noted that the surge in the number of displaced people has overwhelmed basic services in the camps. For this reason, as in other parts of the Sudan, schools have been closed for the past seven months, as classrooms serve as temporary shelters for displaced people. As a result, the education and future prospects of millions of Sudanese children are at risk.
She also stressed that the local health situation is also a disaster. Between mid-May and mid-September alone, more than 1,200 children under the age of 5 died in White Nile State as a result of measles outbreaks and severe malnutrition. Lacking basic medicines, personnel and supplies, at least four children are still dying every week in White Nile State.
难民署/Ibrahim Mohamed
South Sudanese refugees experienced a second displacement, travelling in trucks from Khartoum to White Nile State.
Neighboring countries are struggling to cope
At the same time, the number of Sudanese refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries has increased dramatically. In Chad, about 700 new refugees arrive every day, and in the South Sudanese town of Renk, near the Sudanese border, more than 20,000 people have crossed the border from Sudan in the last week.
An emergency transit centre in Lenk designed to have a capacity of 3,000 people now houses about 20,000 people, most of them Sudanese refugees, Doheid said. "I've been working in humanitarian work for 30 years, and this is probably one of the worst situations I've ever seen," she admits.
More than 362,000 people have crossed the border into South Sudan since the conflict began, according to official figures. Doheide noted that UNHCR and other relief agencies are doing their best to help, "but our capacity to respond is not strong enough to keep up with the growth in demand, and we urgently need funding to do our job."
Humanitarian funding is urgently needed
She stressed that in response to the humanitarian needs of all neighbouring countries hosting Sudanese refugees, the United Nations had developed a regional refugee contingency plan to mobilize $1 billion for 64 partner agencies in five countries, but only 39 per cent of the funds needed were currently in place. The United Nations has also launched a separate appeal for $2.6 billion for humanitarian needs in Sudan, but only one-third of that funding has been forthcoming.
Doheid warned that if urgent humanitarian assistance is not provided to civilians in Sudan, they will continue to flee to neighbouring countries such as South Sudan and Chad, which are struggling to cope with the deepening humanitarian crisis, and that if they do not help these countries meet the most basic needs of refugees, they will inevitably find other ways to secure themselves and their families and a better future, even if it means handing over their lives to traffickers and continuing the long and dangerous journey.
To this end, Dohyd reiterated that the appeal for Sudan and its neighbours is critical. At the same time, she welcomed the resumption of the peace talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and hoped that the peace talks would soon lead to a ceasefire.