Sudan: 4.9 million IDPs across Sudan face ongoing turmoil

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^{31 December 2008}

By the end of 2008, 4.9 million people in Sudan were displaced by the numerous conflicts which had afflicted the country for over two decades; together they made up the single largest internally displaced population in the world.

Sudan has long been the scene of internal conflicts instigated by various rebel groups in response to an unequal distribution of resources and a concentration of power in Khartoum. In Southern Sudan, armed conflict broke out soon after Sudan gained independence in 1956. That conflict ended in 1972, but in 1983 civil war started again between the government in Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). In 2005 the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed, establishing home rule for the southern states under the Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan, and providing for a referendum on secession in 2011. However the status of some border areas was not resolved by the CPA, and outbreaks of fighting continued to displace thousands of people in these areas in 2008.

In Eastern Sudan, conflict between the army and an insurgent coalition which became known as the Eastern Front continued from 1997 to 2006; by the end of 2008 there were still up to 420,000 people displaced within a region that is among the poorest in Sudan.

Armed conflict broke out in Darfur in 2003. As with Sudan’s other conflicts, the causes of the war in Darfur lay in a history of neglect by the central government, and a failure to share resources and wealth. The dynamics of the conflict have changed over time, with the rebel movement fracturing into a number of rival factions.

People displaced within Sudan by all these conflicts have sought shelter within their own region or have fled to Khartoum and other cities in Sudan’s northern states. In Southern Sudan, IDPs are mostly dispersed among host communities. Many IDPs in Darfur have sought refuge in organised camps and in smaller settlements that share land and resources with nearby villages, but substantial numbers live in towns and villages among the local population. IDPs in Eastern Sudan live in camps as well as in urban and semi-urban areas, notably in Port Sudan and Kassala. Some of the people recently displaced in the so-called Transitional Areas (Blue Nile, Southern Kordofan and Abyei) are dispersed, while others are gathered in IDP settlements.

The Greater Khartoum area has continued to host an estimated 1.2 million people who fled the various conflicts. They have mostly supported themselves, both among Khartoum’s urban poor and in four areas designated as “IDP camps” by the authorities. Since 2005, many southern IDPs have returned from Khartoum to the south, but some have since returned to Khartoum after failing to re-establish themselves in their places of origin. As in previous years, IDPs in Khartoum were at risk of new displacement in 2008, with the city authorities demolishing homes in the Mandela camp in November.

In 2008 the government was in the process of drafting a national IDP policy, setting out IDPs’ rights during different phases of displacement and the required responses to their needs. In December, the international humanitarian community decided to adopt the cluster approach in Sudan. However, ultimately the prospect of solutions for the many displaced groups depended more on achieving sustainable peace across Sudan, and the delivery of effective development support to areas ravaged by long-term conflict.

Darfur
By far the largest displaced population in 2008 was in Darfur. The number of IDPs grew by some 315,000 during the course of the year, to 2.7 million, as attacks on civilians by the Sudan Armed Forces, allied militia groups and various rebel factions continued. The hybrid UN and African Union peacekeeping mission UNAMID took over from the beleaguered African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), but troop levels remained significantly lower than promised and security across the region continued to deteriorate. The security problems forced WFP to reduce rations for over three million people dependent on food aid, and led the UN to increase its security level in July, leading to the withdrawal of staff and a reduction in access to displaced populations. By September, the UN could only reach 65 per cent of affected populations. NGOs and the Red Cross/Red Crescent still working in UN “no-go” areas were facing rising levels of banditry and armed confrontation.

IDPs in Darfur faced many threats to their physical security and integrity and to their access to the basic necessities of life and other rights. In August, Sudanese government forces opened fire in Kalma camp, killing 33 civilians and wounding at least 85 people. Women and children in and around IDP camps and settlements were especially vulnerable. Rape and sexual violence continued to be systematic and widespread, while children continued to be recruited and used by all parties to the conflict. Human rights and protection monitors were frequently unable to enter areas due to widespread insecurity and to efforts by the government or armed groups to deny them access.

Some IDPs tried, without success, to prevent the 2008 census from taking place in Darfur, fearing that the results were unlikely to be representative as long as hundreds of thousands of people remained displaced, and that the census would instead legitimise the presence of people who had occupied IDPs’ homes and land. While the census went ahead, the results were yet to be released at the end of the year.

The prospects for Darfur’s IDPs remained grim in 2008. Efforts to obtain a peace agreement for Darfur remained without success, and the government continued to obstruct international relief efforts. UNAMID has hardly provided more effective protection to IDPs than the AU force which preceded it, and is unlikely to do so until the international community commits all the troops and equipment authorised by the UN
Security Council.

Southern Sudan and transitional areas
The civil war led to the internal displacement of an estimated four million Southern Sudanese, while half a million fled abroad. The UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) estimated that by December 2008, a total of 2.4 million IDPs and refugees had returned to their homes in Southern Sudan. However, the achievement of durable solutions by these returnees was difficult to confirm in a region where access to clean water, basic services and livelihood opportunities were still very limited, and malnutrition widespread. In many cases, members of receiving communities, many of whom had themselves been displaced at some point during the war, were just as vulnerable as the returnees, and had little capacity to help returnees to rebuild their lives. IOM has estimated that ten per cent of returns have not lasted and have led to secondary displacement. At the same time, inter-communal conflicts over land and resources caused significant new displacement in Southern Sudan in 2008.

The authorities in Southern Sudan have so far focused exclusively on return as the only durable solution, but many IDPs would prefer to integrate in the towns they fled to, or to settle in other urban areas. Local authorities, including in the southern capital Juba, demolished some IDPs’ homes, notably where IDPs had been squatting on private land or on land designated for public use. In some towns, including Yei and Nimule, wives and children of SPLA soldiers were living on land owned by people displaced by the war who now wanted to return. The local authorities tended not to get involved in these cases for fear of displeasing the SPLA.

The South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission has responsibility for the situation of IDPs and returnees, but it has been hampered by a lack of resources and manpower, and has faced allegations of corruption in the distribution of food aid. The Southern Sudan Human Rights Commission could in theory play an important role in protecting the rights of IDPs, but it too is struggling with a lack of manpower and resources.

The UN mission in Southern Sudan, UNMIS, has contributed to improving the situation of IDPs and returnees through its Protection of Civilians section and the Return, Reintegration and Recovery section. However UNMIS has been criticised for not doing enough to protect civilians, and the international response which the UN leads has also faced criticism for an excess of coordination activities at the expense of actual delivery of support.

Tensions have remained high in Abyei and Southern Kordofan, two of the “transitional areas” recognised by the CPA. In May 2008, fighting between northern and southern forces in the town of Abyei, which is close to lucrative oil fields and an important oil pipeline, led to the displacement of between 50,000 and 60,000 people and the almost complete destruction of the town. By December, up to 10,000 residents had returned, but fresh fighting forced almost all of them to flee again. By the end of 2008 it was estimated that over 200,000 people remained internally displaced in Blue Nile State, and more than 100,000 in Southern Kordofan.

28 May 2009: Demolitions leave 30,000 homeless in Juba

The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) has expressed concern over demolitions in Juba during the past several months and the lack of alternatives that the Government of Central Equatoria is providing to the people who have lost their homes. According to UNMIS, more than 30,000 people, many of them internally displaced, have been left homeless and facing heightened health and environmental risks with the rainy season approaching.

UNMIS said that in most cases, the demolitions were inconsistent with national law and international human rights standards, as affected communities were not given notice or offered alternative land or access to adequate housing or compensation; nor were they able to challenge the decision.

Many of the people made homeless have moved to Gudelle, some six kilometres from Juba’s town centre. People living in Gudelle said that new people were arriving every day, despite the almost complete absence of services there.

See also: IDMC Sudan country page

As a result of Sudan’s numerous conflicts, about 4.9 million people remain internally displaced in the country; together they make up the single largest internally displaced population in the world.

In Southern Sudan, an estimated four million IDPs and half a million refugees were displaced by the war between the north and the south. 2.24 million people are thought to have returned since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in January 2005, but they have faced numerous obstacles, including very limited access to livelihood opportunities and basic services. An estimated ten per cent of all return movements thus far have been unsuccessful. Inter-communal violence has also caused significant new displacement in Southern Sudan, with 187,000 people newly displaced in 2008.

Tensions have remained high in the "Three Areas" on the border between the north and south. In May 2008 renewed conflict in Abyei led to the displacement of between 50,000 and 60,000 people and the almost complete destruction of the town. At the end of 2008 it was estimated that over 200,000 people remained internally displaced in Blue Nile State, and more than 100,000 in Southern Kordofan. (...)

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^{27 May 2009}