Sudan
Estimates for the total number of IDPs for all of Sudan (as of January 2009)
4.9 MILLION IDPs IN SUDAN AT THE START OF 2009
The figures presented here give an overview of the total number of IDPs in all of Sudan by 1 January 2009. For developments since then, please see the separate entries for Southern Sudan, the Three Areas, Eastern Sudan, Darfur and Khartoum respectively.
OCHA's Displaced Populations Report, July - December 2008 (December 2008, p.6) gives a total figure of 4,576,250 IDPs for all of Sudan, based on the following figures:
However, note that these figures do not include any estimates for the number of IDPs in the ten states of Southern Sudan and in Southern Kordofan. As such, these figures are an underestimate of the total number of IDPs in the whole country by the end of 2008.
Based on 2008 estimates provided by IOM and UNMIS/RRR (see the information on IDP numbers in Southern Sudan and the Transitional Areas), there were at least
- 96,827 IDPs in Southern Kordofan (IOM);
- 39,405 IDPs in Central Equatoria (UNMIS/RRR);
- 23,713 IDPs in Eastern Equatoria (UNMIS/RRR);
- 29,516 IDPs in Northern Bahr el Ghazal (IOM, based on an assessment of 188 villages, with IDPs 4.5 per cent of the population)
- 7,323 IDPs in Western Bahr el Ghazal (IOM, based on an assessment of 20 villages, with IDPs 8.1 per cent of the population)
- 3,834 IDPs in Unity (IOM, based on an assessment of 62 villages, with IDPs 2.0 per cent of the population)
- 11,709 IDPs in Warrab (IOM, based on an assessment of 167 villages, with IDPs 2.6 per cent of the population)
The total for Southern Sudan and Southern Kordofan is about 212,327 IDPs. Added to OCHA's figure of 4,576,250 IDPs for the remaining areas of Sudan, this gives a total of 4,788,577 IDPs, or about 4.8 million IDPs. This, however, does not include IDP figures for the four southern states of Western Equatoria, Jonglei, Upper Nile and Lakes, while the IOM figures for the four southern states Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Western Bahr el Ghazal, Unity and Warrab only cover a limited number of villages in each state.
Another way of arriving at a total IDP figure for all of Sudan at the end of 2008 is by looking at new displacement in Southern Sudan in 2009. According to the Office of the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, "Since January 2008, 187,000 people have been displaced by tribal and armed conflict in Southern Sudan." Adding OCHA's figure of 4,576,250 IDPs (for Darfur, Eastern States, Khartoum and other northern states, Blue Nile and Abyei) to IOM's figure of 96,827 IDPs for Southern Kordofan and the UN RC/HC figure of 187,000 for Southern Sudan gives a total of 4,860,077, or about 4.9 million IDPs. But note that this figure does not include people who were already displaced in Southern Sudan before January 2008 and who remained displaced in 2008. At the same time, it is unclear how many of the 187,000 newly displaced people in Southern Sudan in 2008 had been able to return to their homes by the end of the year and were thus no longer displaced.
Note that UNHCR's Global Appeal for 2009 uses a considerably lower planning figure of 3,422,000 IDPs for all of Sudan as of January 2009 (p.3):
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