World Vision has pre-positioned approximately 10,200 metric tonnes of food and relief items such as blankets, plastic sheets, mosquito nets, cooking pans and soap for its operational areas in 10 states of South Sudan, in the lead up to referenda voting in January.
The South Sudan Referendum and the Abyei Referendum* are part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in Nairobi between the Khartoum central government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), to end decades of conflict between North and South Sudan.
“We are hoping for the best during the referenda process, but we have prepared for any humanitarian requirements. We continue to respond to the Internally Displaced Persons and to the people coming from the north, ahead of the referenda, into the transit camps,” said Programme Director for World Vision South Sudan, Edwin Asante.
More than 53,000 returnees from northern Sudan have arrived in the south of the country, some to participate in the upcoming referenda, while others are fleeing armed conflict in the west. Most of the returnees are women and children who need assistance. Thousands more are still travelling, according to the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The spontaneous, as well as organised, arrival of large numbers of Southern Sudanese in the State of Warrap is beginning to stress the water and sanitation facilities. Such mass movements of people and displacements also spell a potential increase in incidence or outbreak of epidemic diseases, which paints a dire humanitarian picture.
Current trends suggest that the Global Acute Malnutrition rate is likely to shoot up, especially amongst incoming IDPs.
Warrap State has registered the highest number of returnees so far and the UN has made a specific appeal for additional support to address their needs. World Vision is part of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) cluster in the area.
“We have 2,600 non-food items in Northern Bar Ghazal and 1,000 in Warrap to help alleviate the great human need, especially for vulnerable children,” said World Vision Humanitarian Emergency Affairs Co-ordinator, Morris Kenyi.
Most of the people returning to this part of the country have been temporarily accommodated in six locations in Kuajok, the capital of Warrap State.
As people arrive there is an ongoing exercise of registration and verification, after which they receive three months ration of World Food Programme commodities distributed by World Vision.
Last week, World Vision distributed food and relief items to 2,718 returnees residing in a transit camp near Kuajok.
Referenda Background:
* Voting in the Abeyei Referendum was due to take place simultaneously with the South Sudan Referendum on Sunday 9 January. However (as at Friday 7 January), the timing for a vote on whether Abeyei, an oil-rich area on the border between northern and southern Sudan, will join either side, remains uncertain.
South Sudan Referendum
On 9 January, Southern Sudan will hold a referendum to decide whether it should remain united with the North or become an independent nation. The referendum is part of the 2005 Naivasha Agreement, also known as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), between the Khartoum central government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M). The CPA, signed in Kenya in January 2005, ended decades of conflict, where approximately 1.9 million people were killed in Southern Sudan and some 4 million southerners were displaced throughout the years.
Only Southern Sudanese are eligible to vote in the referendum. The central government of Sudan and the South Sudanese government agreed that turnout would have to be 60% for the vote to be valid, and that as long as turnout is 60% or higher, a simple majority vote in favour of independence will result in independence for South Sudan. If turnout is insufficient, a second referendum will be held within 60 days.
Abyei Referendum
During the same period, a referendum will be held to decide if Abyei wants to be part of Southern Sudan or Northern Sudan.
The oil-rich region of Abyei has been considered a historical bridge between Northern and Southern Sudan. The Greater Nile Oil Pipeline travels through the Abyei area to Port Sudan on the Red Sea via the capital, Khartoum and is vital to the country’s oil exports.
The status of Abyei was one of the most contentious issues in the negotiation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The territory had previously been considered part of the now-abolished state of West Kurdufan. Under the terms of the Protocol, the Abyei area has been declared, on an interim basis, to be simultaneously part of the states of South Kurdufan (North Sudan) and Bahr el Ghazal (South Sudan).
Abyei is currently within North Sudan.
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