SUDAN: South Sudanese seek refuge at border

Record ID: 274492

  • Title: SUDAN: South Sudanese seek refuge at border
  • Date: 30th January 2014
  • Summary: KILO 10, WHITE NILE STATE, SUDAN (RECENT) (REUTERS) SUN RISE SEEN BEHIND THE REFUGEE CAMP TENTS REFUGEES SLEEPING CHILDREN WITH BLANKET OVER THEIR HEAD TO SHIELD THEM FROM MORNING COLD MOTHER WITH HER BABY VARIOUS OF CHILD WATCHING OVER A TEAPOT ON THE FIRE OLD WOMAN AND A CHILD DRINKING TEA VARIOUS OF THE REFUGEE, AWAD ARADAIBA PUTTING UP FRAME FOR HIS TENT (SOUNDBITE)
  • Embargoed: 14th February 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sudan
  • Country: Sudan
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9VN8BPV9XR6XROPBH1B5LL9PY
  • Story Text: Every day the sun rises over Kilo 10 - a camp on the border of Sudan and South Sudan, there is a glimmer of hope among thousands of refugees settled here that peace will finally dawn.
    Fighting since mid-December, often along ethnic faultlines, has pitted President Salva Kiir's SPLA government forces against rebels loyal to former vice president Riek Machar and brought the oil-exporting nation close to civil war.
    The fighting is the worst in South Sudan since it won independence from Sudan in 2011 in a peace deal that ended one of Africa's longest civil wars. It has also displaced more than half a million people and cut oil exports.
    The residents of Kilo 10 - numbering close to 10,000 according to the Sudan Red Crescent group, found their way through rough desert terrain to the doorstep of their young nation's one-time war enemy and foe, Sudan.
    Awad Aradaiba, fled with his wife children and extended family.
    On arrival, he received only one tent and is putting up his own makeshift shelter to fit the whole family.
    "My mother, wife, and the wife of my brother are with me. My brother is still in the desert and I don't know were he is now or if he is still alive or not. I am putting up this shed because we have only one tent and I have three families," he said.
    Aradaiba's family walked from the oil rich Upper Nile State where rebels and government forces clashed violently.
    "We walked for seven days with my six children," said Aradaiba's wife Najabi.
    It's been hardest for the very young and the elderly, some in their 80's.
    "There are several injuries due to the long journey on foot taken by these refugees. They have swollen legs with injuries because of running and walking long distances," said Eisa Osman, a health worker volunteer from Sudan's Red Crescent society.
    Several volunteers from the north have moved to the border area to assist the stream of refugees arriving every day.
    Diseases are also spreading in the camps, where sanitation and clean water are scarce. Some arrive with Malaria and other ailments.
    "Malaria and diarrhoea are affecting especially the very young and very old refugees. They are also suffering from eye infections and influenza," said Osman.
    Volunteers distribute tents, supplies and sorghum to newly arrived refugees but it is not enough.
    Mohammed Ibrahim says he doesn't know how long they will be able to cater for the growing numbers, especially if the conflict continues.
    The warring sides signed a ceasefire last week but have since accused each other of continuing the violence.
    "We do our work according to what is available in the camp. We provide shelter, blankets and utensils; but as I said we can only work with what we have," said Ibrahim.
    South Sudan freed seven senior political figures on Wednesday (January 29) who had been arrested on suspicion of plotting a coup, partially meeting a rebel demand at peace talks focused on ending weeks of fighting.
    It handed them over to neighbouring Kenya and said four remaining detainees could be released after unspecified "legal clarifications" - raising hopes it was preparing to remove a major sticking point in troubled negotiations.
    Following the developments far from home, South Sudanese refugees hope for an end to the fighting.
    "The tribal clashes are not good. People fight and we end up in such situations. We as the youth demand a stop to the war so that people can return to their home villages," said Emmanuel Yan, a refugee.
    Although initially caused by a political row, the conflict has taken a tribal turn with Kiir's Dinka clashing with Machar's Nuer.
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