Seleka rebels in the Central African Republic have taken control of several towns and subsequent fighting has led to displacement and a deterioration of the already precarious humanitarian situation in the country.

Government sources claim rebels are continuing their advance on the capital Bangui, despite agreeing to peace talks. Amid worsening fighting, Myanmar’s army has reportedly used air strikes against the Kachin Independency Army in Kachin state. The fighting, which re-ignited in June 2011, displaced more than 100,000 people. The situation in Syria continues to escalate. According to UN analysis, the increasingly sectarian conflict has resulted in more than 60,000 deaths, which is significantly higher than the previously estimated death toll of 45,000.

On 4 January, Tropical Storm Auring has made landfall in Palawan in the Philippines, affecting more than 10,000 people. In December, two tropical storms already hit the Philippines, Typhoon Bopha and Tropical Storm Wukom, affecting over 6.2 million and 240,000 people respectively.

Global Emergency Overview web interface

The Beginning

Over the past twenty years, the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) has evolved into an organisation that successfully promotes reflection, education and intervention in African conflicts.

At our inception in 1992 we put forward the ambitious and progressive mission to ‘encourage and promote the constructive resolution of disputes by the peoples of Africa and so assist in achieving political stability, economic recovery and peaceful co-existence within just and democratic societies’. Achieving this goal has required ACCORD’s constant evolution so as to best anticipate and navigate Africa’s continually changing socio-political climate. Our experiences reflect the fundamental reality that conflicts on the continent are complex and multi-faceted.

These require a confluence of skilled intervention, practical knowledge and determined political will.
ACCORD initially emerged as an institutional and societal response to South Africa’s democratic transition between 1990 and 1994. Following extensive consultations with political, business and grassroots leaders of all affiliations, we recognised an implicit shift in the mood of the country that took us away from the violence that marred the Apartheid era. There was both a need and a space for an organisation that could traverse the confines of the country’s suffocating socio-political framework to shepherd a paradigm shift towards dialogue and negotiations. After situating our offices across five South African universities1 we set about accomplishing three crucial goals in the then rapidly changing South Africa.

INTRODUCTION

As a result of armed conflict and civil strife over the past two decades, the north and west of Uganda were contaminated by mines/ERW, particularly along the country’s borders with South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since 2007, Danish Demining Group (DDG) has implemented a mine/ERW clearance programme in Uganda in association with the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF – Ugandan military) and the Uganda Police Force (UPF).

In October 2010, DDG expanded its operations in the country by initiating its first ever Community Safety Programme. The programme was introduced in the conflict-prone Karamoja region of Uganda,1 which was targeted due to its unique context. The region is characterised by cross-border cattle raiding facilitated by the widespread use and availability of small arms; unpopular and often brutal forced disarmament initiatives carried out by the UPDF; community mistrust of the UPDF and UPF; and scarcity of key resources like access to water and grazing land.

The purpose of this case study is to examine the rationale, approach and lessons learnt from DDG’s Community Safety Programme in Karamoja to date, including how DDG has adapted the programming approach first piloted in Somaliland to the unique complexities of the conflict-prone Karamoja region.2

A three-month emergency programme to improve living conditions at the Batil refugee camp in South Sudan has successfully increased residents’ access to clean, safe drinking water.

Since the historic independence of South Sudan in July 2011, those leaving Sudan have faced enormous challenges of migration, resettlement and survival. Many arrive at refugee camps in South Sudan suffering from exhaustion and hunger, having escaped conflict and walked for weeks.

A Médecins Sans Frontières survey at the Batil camp in July showed that most of the 38,000 residents did not have enough access to drinking water or basic shelter materials. Heavy rains had made the situation worse, and immediate, effective relief was needed to halt a long-term humanitarian crisis.

Red Cross support

An urgent International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) programme focused on improving the supply of safe drinking water and providing emergency household items such as blankets, mosquito nets and soap. The British Red Cross supported the effort with £200,000 in emergency funds.

Chris Davies, British Red Cross delegate with the ICRC in South Sudan, worked on the project to improve access to clean water. He said: “There have been outbreaks of diarrhoea and hepatitis E in the camps. People had to walk too long to fetch water so were using dirty surface water and getting skin diseases. Lack of access to clean water is the cause of it all.

“But we’ve now increased the network of tap stands, especially for communities further out, so they don’t have to walk so far to get water.”

Improving infrastructure

The new water facilities, including water points, tap stands and generators will ensure water pumps operate for 20 hours a day. The ICRC team has also increased the capacity to store water in the camp. With these improvements, the average Batil resident’s access to water has increased from 7 litres per day to 17 litres.

This success supplements the work Médecins Sans Frontières, GOAL, the World Food Programme and others are doing to provide medical assistance, food supplies and sanitation provisions. With better access to water, sanitation, food and shelter, basic survival will be less of a day-to-day struggle for the residents of the camp.

This specific ICRC programme to improve water facilities at the Batil refugee camp has now concluded, however both the ICRC and British Red Cross continue to work in South Sudan. The British Red Cross is working with the South Sudan Red Cross as it builds up its capacity to respond to crises. And the ICRC conducts vaccination of livestock, provides assistance to Malakal teaching hospital and continues to support Batil and Jamam refugee camps in the north of the country.

Watch a video interview with Chris Davies in South Sudan

Mon, 7 Jan 2013 21:43 GMT

By Carl Odera

JUBA, Jan 7 (Reuters) - South Sudan hopes to establish a demilitarized zone along its border with arch-rival Sudan within a month, paving the way for vital oil exports to resume, a southern official said on Monday.

Read the full article on AlertNet

Messages clés :

• En Afrique de l’Ouest, les prix des produits alimentaires étaient stables ou ont diminué en novembre tandis que leurs disponibilités continuaient à s’améliorer avec la campagne de commercialisation en cours. Des hausses de prix ont eu lieu plus tôt que prévu dans des centres urbains de la région et dans les zones structurellement déficitaires en raison des flux limités de produits en provenance des régions de production excédentaire.

• En Afrique de l’Est, la majorité des prix alimentaires ont suivi leurs tendances saisonnières en novembre - baissant où les approvisionnements des récoltes continuaient à arriver sur les marchés, et augmentant avec la progression de la saison de soudure au Rwanda et en Tanzanie. Au Soudan, les prix des grains étaient relativement hauts en raison de l’inflation, des coûts élevés de transport, et du conflit localisé.

• En Afrique australe, les prix alimentaires ont augmenté sur la plupart des marchés de référence avec la progression de la saison de soudure en novembre. Des déficits localisés de la production et l’augmentation des coûts de carburant ont maintenu une forte pression à la hausse des prix dans le sud du Malawi et de Zimbabwe, et le centre du Mozambique.

• En Haïti, les prix alimentaires ont continué à monter en novembre à la suite de la médiocrité des récoltes Primavera et des dommages aux cultures causés par les tempêtes tropicales du début de l’année. En Amérique centrale, les prix étaient stables ou ont baissé en novembre grâce aux approvisionnements en provenance des récentes récoltes.

• En Afghanistan et au Tadjikistan, les prix alimentaires sont restés stables ou ont continué à augmenter entre octobre et novembre en raison de la forte demande pour les stocks d’hiver et les coûts élevés des importations régionales.
  Les prix internationaux du maïs et du blé sur les marchés de référence demeuraient stables à des niveaux élevés en novembre (schéma 1). Les prix de l’huile végétale ont continué à baisser en novembre avec l’amélioration des prévisions de la production mondiale 2012/2013. Les prix internationaux du riz et du carburant demeuraient stables.

The sub-programme

From the Balkans to Afghanistan, Lebanon, Sudan and Haiti, UNEP has responded to crisis situations in more than 40 countries since 1999, delivering world-class environmental expertise to national governments and partners in the UN family.

In response to increased global awareness of the environmental dimensions of crises, and to growing demand for the services that address them, UNEP has identified “disasters and conflicts” as one of its six priority areas.

UNEP’s Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch coordinates the theme.

Key facts

75+ staff involved in conflict and disaster management across the organization

Sub-programme is coordinated from Geneva, Switzerland

Country project offices in:
– Kabul and Bamiyan, Afghanistan
– Khartoum, Nyala and El Fasher, Sudan
– Juba, South Sudan
– Port Harcourt, Nigeria
– Kinshasa, DR Congo
– Port Salut, Haiti

Since 1999, the Disasters and Conflicts sub-programme has raised over USD 150 million to support its operations

7 January 2013 - Hundreds of South Sudanese help today to clean a main road in Juba during an exercise coordinated by UNMISS Japanese Engineering Contingent and the Ministry of Housing and Physical Planning.

Local citizens and members of the peacekeeping force jointly gathered debris along Kololo Road to prepare for road works by the Japanese Contingent.

“We are going to rehabilitate this road for the benefit of local people,” said Col. Harutoshi Tsuchiya Said, who heads the contingent.

The two-kilometre road is an important link between offices, business centres and residences in the Tong Ping area.

“We are in the process of (building) a new country and this kind of initiative will help us to achieve that goal,” said Monday Ardria, chairperson of the road’s payams (districts) -- Juba East and Heax Amarat.

The Japanese contingent aims to complete the rehabilitation work within two months.

More than 170,000 people who fled violence in Sudan are living in refugee camps in South Sudan. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been assisting the refugees since November 2011, running field hospitals and providing supplies of clean drinking water and oral rehydration fluids.

Now that the floods caused by the rainy season are subsiding refugees are starting to cross the border again. In December 2012, around 370 refugees arrived at the border village of El Fuj, traveling in two groups and arriving a few days apart. This is a small number compared to last year, when 35,000 people crossed the border in the space of just three weeks. Time will tell if the numbers will increase.

While the camps in South Sudan provide relative safety, refugees living there face dire conditions. There are still shortages of clean water—at times, 40 percent of medical consultations carried out by MSF were related to diarrhea—and there are ongoing occurrences of Hepatitis E. In Batil Camp (which hosts around 35,000 refugees), mortality rates were more than double emergency thresholds in summer 2012, and more than a quarter of the children under the age of five were malnourished. Since September 2012, conditions have improved in many areas and mortality rates have dropped, but nutrition and food security are still serious concerns.

Fleeing Violence and Insecurity

The newly arrived refugees, members of the Ingessana ethnic group, bring with them stories of lives made desperate by ongoing violence, of the agony of having to leave loved ones behind, and of the difficult and dangerous journey to the border. “We left because of war,” said one 36-year-old mother. “For the last one-and-a-half years we have been bombed by the planes every day. We lived in the forest; there was no chance for school for the children, no health care or medicine. Food we got from the ground, but not corn. Water we would collect in the early mornings. This has happened all seasons.”

“Villages were burnt down,” recalled a 22-year-old woman who arrived with her husband and their four children, the youngest of whom was just 1 month old. “It was not safe anymore. We lived in fear. We did not want to leave but we could not stay. We traveled with our families; we had to leave some people behind who were not able to travel.”

Men described feeling as if they could be killed at any time and fearing that women and girls would be raped by invaders. An 18-year-old woman who traveled with her child to join her husband wept when she recalled having to leave her elderly parents behind, saying she did not know what would happen to them or who would be able to help them.

Another woman described how her 15-year-old son had died from a gunshot wound just before they left. Her youngest child, a baby girl, became sick on the journey and died shortly after they reached Jamam.

Days Walking with No Food

The refugees traveled for around eight days to reach El Fuj, mostly on foot and occasionally by tractor. They had some water, but no food. One group lost five people, most of them elderly, who were too weak from hunger to carry on. “It was tiring carrying our possessions and the young children,” said one 35-year-old woman. “We walked at night for safety, but still had to walk during the day.”

On the journey, some refugees suffered from malaria; others reported body pains, headaches, stomach pains, “hunger pains,” and infections. “We lost people along the way,” the woman said.

Some Sanctuary at Jamam Camp

Though the journey was difficult, the refugees also speak of the relief they felt when they reached safety, health care, shelter, and food in Jamam camp, one of four refugee camps in South Sudan’s Maban County. A group of women related their anxieties about the journey and their fear about what would happen when they reached South Sudan. Now, they said, they felt very safe, and were happy because their children were healthier.

The refugees expect that more people from their villages will join them in South Sudan as soon as they can find a way to escape get there. Perhaps one day life will return to normal, and they will be able to think about the future, but for now, their needs and hopes are very immediate: “Food and water, health care and medicine—and not to fear for our children anymore,” one woman said. Another summarized her hopes as follows: “To have a hospital for our people, to have schools for our children, to cultivate, and to rest—all the things that we should have.”

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/96 of 20 June 1996 concerning humanitarian aid("the Humanitarian Aid Regulation"), and in particular Article 2, notably 2 (c), Article 4 and Article 15(2) and (3) thereof,

Having regard to Council Decision 2001/822/EC of 27 November 2001 on the association of the overseas countries and territories with the European Community ("Overseas Association Decision"), and in particular Articles 21 and 30 thereof,

Whereas:

(1) The global humanitarian context in 2013 will, in all likelihood, remain challenging with similar trends to those experienced in 2012 with the intensity and range of crises surpassing the levels encountered in previous years, thus resulting in an increase in the overall total of people affected and in need of international assistance. This increase in humanitarian needs is related to protracted or recurrent humanitarian crises, such as long-term conflict or droughts, and those resulting from sudden new emergencies. In line with the Good Humanitarian Donorship principles, it is important that the response to sudden new emergencies, such as earthquakes or conflicts, does not detract from addressing existing or recurrent humanitarian crises.

(2) Constantly increasing global needs are the result of a combination of factors, notably the larger number of refugees and displaced persons resulting from man-made crises, the impact of natural disasters which is increasing, partly as a result of climate change, the continued impact of the economic crisis affecting particularly the most vulnerable populations and a tightening of the humanitarian space that make the delivery of aid and access to beneficiaries more and more difficult and dangerous. In this context and for each crisis, a specific country/region evaluation of needs per sector is conducted by the European Commission in order to provide a first hand account of crisis pockets and to give an insight into the nature and the depth of needs. This is combined with a Global Needs Assessment, based on two sets of indicators (crisis and vulnerability), the Forgotten Crisis Assessment (FCA) and the Food Insecurity Needs Assessment (FINAT). These evaluations and tools provide the framework to determine the sectors and locations of greatest needs and to provide an appropriate allocation of funds accordingly.

(3) Man-made humanitarian crises, resulting from wars or outbreaks of fighting (also called complex or protracted crises) account for a large proportion and the main source of humanitarian needs in the world. In man-made crises, such as Sudan and South Sudan, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Yemen, the occupied Palestinian territory and Syria, the EU humanitarian intervention, which takes place alongside development, stabilisation and/or state-building interventions, addresses life-saving needs, and protects several millions of vulnerable people, including notably refugees and returnees, internally displaced as well as host communities . Where possible, it should also prepare conditions for a proper transition towards longer term interventions (Linking Relief Rehabilitation and Development - LRRD) and build the resilience of the most vulnerable populations. It is in those contexts that access and security problems make the delivery of aid particularly difficult or dangerous. The needs resulting from such crises may be further exacerbated by natural disasters, such as drought or floods, as is the case in Chad, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Afghanistan or Pakistan. Such natural disasters and extreme weather conditions may restrict some interventions and may also require rapid reorientation of other activities to meet new priority needs of the affected populations.

(4) The human and economic losses caused by natural disasters are devastating. These natural disasters, be they of sudden or slow onset, that entail major loss of life, physical and psychological or social suffering or material damage, are constantly increasing, and with them, so is the number of victims. In this respect, vulnerable populations affected by natural disasters and climate change rely on EU humanitarian assistance, including food assistance, nutrition and protection. Recurrent acute humanitarian needs have been identified in various situations, such as the drought affected areas in the Sahel or the Horn of Africa.

LA COMMISSION EUROPÉENNE,

vu le traité sur le fonctionnement de l’Union européenne,

vu le règlement (CE) nº 1257/96 du Conseil du 20 juin 1996 concernant l’aide humanitaire (ci-après dénommé «règlement concernant l’aide humanitaire») et notamment son article 2, en particulier le point c), son article 4 et son article 15, paragraphes 2 et 3,

vu la décision 2001/822/CE du Conseil du 27 novembre 2001 relative à l’association des pays et territoires d’outre-mer à la Communauté européenne (ci-après dénommée «décision d’association outre-mer»), et notamment ses articles 21 et 30,

considérant ce qui suit:

(1) En 2013, le contexte humanitaire mondial restera, selon toute vraisemblance, aussi préoccupant qu’en 2012 et sera caractérisé par des crises d’une intensité et d’une ampleur supérieures à celles observées au cours des années précédentes, qui se traduiront par un accroissement du nombre total de personnes touchées par ces crises et ayant besoin d’une aide internationale. Cette augmentation des besoins humanitaires est liée à des crises humanitaires prolongées ou récurrentes, telles que les conflits de longue durée ou les sécheresses, et aux crises résultant de l’apparition soudaine de nouvelles situations d’urgence. Conformément aux principes de l’action humanitaire, il importe que la réponse apportée aux nouvelles situations d’urgence soudaines, telles que les tremblements de terre ou les conflits, ne fasse pas oublier les crises humanitaires existantes ou récurrentes.

By BARNABAS BII bbii@ke.nationmedia.com

An influx of refugees has hit a refugee camp, sparking tension between the immigrants and locals over natural resources.

On Monday, Turkana West district commissioner Patrick Muriira said that while a number of the refugees were hoping to go for further studies in Kenya and beyond, others were escaping from the hostilities between South Sudan and its northern neighbour. (Read: Cross-border rows sap the Sudans’ energies as internal conflicts persist)

Further studies

He expressed concern over the increased number of immigrants seeking asylum at Kakuma Camp, but added that security had been beefed up.

“More than 3,000 refugees from South Sudan have flocked the camp in the last two months, causing congestion and sparking disputes with area residents,” Mr Muriira said, adding that most were adults seeking further studies.

He said additional security officers had been deployed to the camp to intensify patrols and maintain law and order.

Among the disputed resources include water and wood fuel, with residents accusing refugees of engaging in wanton destruction through uncontrolled harvesting of trees.

Mr Muriira said there were plans to expand the camp once approval was received from the Immigration ministry.

“Congestion at the camp has forced somerefugees to encroach into neighbouring villages,” he said.

He told the Nation in an interview that the underground water level within the refugee camp had also gone low due to the sinking of several boreholes and massive destruction of eco-system as a result of increased demand of firewood.

Kakuma, the second biggest in the country after Daadab, is home to about 100,000 refugees among them 45,000 Somalis, 30,000 South Sudan immigrants and the rest from Ethiopia, Rwanda and Burundi.

“The camp has, in the recent past, been receiving an average of 100 refugees daily, and can become a hide-out for criminals fleeing their country,” Mr Muriira said.

A man was killed and scores injured last month following a clash at the camp, he added.

“Tight security monitoring measures have been put in place at the refugee camp that will be extended to social places to get rid of illegal immigrants and maintain law and order,” the DC said.

Several refugees at the Kakuma camp have established businesses at Kakuma trading centre and Lodwar Town.

Sources say UNHCR spends about Sh18 billion a year on support of refugees.

“It is unfortunate that some of these refugees sell relief supplies donated by humanitarian agencies and flout immigration rules by crossing over to neighbouring countries,” Mr Muriira said.

The camp has more than 10 international humanitarian agencies ranging from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to the World Food Programme (WFP), among others.

Some of the refugees have been staying with Kenyan Somalis and have established businesses in major towns in parts of the north.

Theft of animals

At the same time, the locals have petitioned the Government and UNHCR to investigate cases of human trafficking at the camp.

A technical committee of Turkana leaders claimed the camp was being used as a transit point for illegal immigrants seeking asylum in other countries.

“The, government must establish anti-human trafficking reporting and monitoring,” urged the leaders in a report on security. They want UNHCR to fence.

ABYEI, 8 January 2013 (IRIN) - Only a fraction of the 120,000 people who fled the Abyei Area following an invasion by Sudanese troops in May 2011 have returned to their homes, amid fears of repeat military action and uncertainty over the area’s political future.

The Abyei Area sits on the border between Sudan and the newly independent South Sudan, but which of the two countries Abyei is part of has yet to be determined. In 2005, a peace deal ending decades of civil war called for a referendum to settle the matter, but that vote has been repeatedly delayed by disagreements over who will be allowed to participate. The referendum is currently scheduled to take place in October.

The indigenous population is dominated by the Ngok Dinka community, many of whom sided with southern rebels during the civil war. But every year, northern Misseriya pastoralists - who are generally aligned with Khartoum - bring their cattle through Abyei in search of pasture. With this annual migration now imminent, there are fears of renewed conflict.

Wandering around the ruins of a home destroyed in last year’s invasion, former resident Longo Mangom said that people fled with nothing and have nothing to come back to.

“We didn’t expect it the day it happened. [Sudanese troops] came in the evening when people were resting, and people were running without taking any luggage or assets,” he said.

Mangom, who has a job with a UN agency, also fled. “We were running just for our lives,” he said.

Services trickling in

Most of the returnees remain near Agok, a town about an hour’s drive from Abyei Town, which is the base for aid agencies shuttling in food, water and healthcare.

Charities are reluctant to be based in Abyei Town or to rebuild more than light infrastructure, lest it stoke tensions between rival communities or be seen as a political move.

Returnees are caught in similar limbo.

“The returnees are coming, and they want to rebuild, but when there is still so much anger and no sufficient agreement. People are fearing,” said Mangom.

“If the two parties do not agree on who should vote, I feel that we will face another conflict,” he said.

Achuil Deng, a tea seller, says there are some basic amenities in Abyei Town. But her hut was one of many razed, and she has resorted to squatting in an abandoned government building. She must trek to Agok for food stocks.

“There’s no problem with water. There’s a hospital here, so that’s okay, as long as there are staff in it - which is not always the case,” she said.

While her husband has stayed in Agok to farm, she has brought their children home. But the schools - once filled with children from both the Ngok Dinka and Misseriya communities - are crumbling.

“There are two things I hope for my kids: They should have a country they know and that belongs to them, and they can continue to go to school so that they can have a future,” she said.

Mounting war rhetoric

Achuil Akol Miyan, minister of finance and acting chief of the Abyei Administration, based in Agok, says the Misseriya have already broadcast threats.

“It is they who said on TV Omdurman [a television station], through their chief, that they would attack us and do a lot of things to stop a referendum,” Miyan said.

The African Union (AU) indicated it would pass the matter to the UN Security Council if the two parties failed to sign on to its latest proposed agreement by 5 December. The deadline has since passed with no agreement, but Sudan’s foreign minister, Ali Karti, warned of more violence if the issue is brought to the Security Council.

His southern counterpart Nhial Deng Nhial has promised that, if people are attacked again, South Sudan’s government will not stand back and watch.

South Sudan has been courting Russia’s vote on the Security Council, with the head of South Sudan’s negotiating team, Pagan Amum, and co-chair of the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee, Luka Biong Deng, recently visiting Moscow. But these overtures suffered a blow when South Sudan’s army shot down a UN helicopter on 21 December in Jonglei State, killing four Russian crewmembers. The helicopter had been suspected of being an enemy craft dropping guns to nearby rebels.

Cattle take centre stage

There are also fears that cattle-keeping communities could clash over scarce resources in the first few months of 2013, before a referendum even takes place.

“This year, I can see a number of water points drying up quickly. And, especially this year, we are expecting a large number of nomads to come with a large amount of cattle,” said Biong Deng. “The level of water is becoming low, and they are coming early. Sharing the water and grazing [land] is going to be difficult.”

“Cows are at the centre of our lives… When they are stolen, it brings a lot of anger and disputes,” said Miyan, who claims the Misseriya have stolen 3 million cows in recent years.

“These Misseriya are still doing some battles, like cattle raiding. We are having to live like this, but we hope someone comes and changes the situation,” said 15-year-old Ajak Lot Nadija.

After losing cattle in raids in 2011 and in the conflict, Najida says his family has around 60 cows left. Some stolen cattle were brought back with the help of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNIFSA), but “31 cows are still missing, and there can be no peace until they are returned”.

During a dispute with Sudan, South Sudan stopped pumping crude oil in January 2012, sending both economies into free fall. Meanwhile, UN Food and Agriculture Organization experts say that livestock trade to Egypt and the Middle East is rising. The numbers of exports are unclear, but with Sudan’s oil revenues plummeting, the Misseriya are seen as an increasingly important government partner.

Miyan claims the Misseriya have been passing through Abyei for 250 years, but now their role has been “politicized” and they have been sent to secure oil production in Abyei.

“Khartoum is giving them a deal, okay. Let them claim the land so that they can walk away with the land for grazing, and the government of Sudan will take the oil.”

“The right of grazing and water access is something we are willing to do,” he said. “But we don’t want them to block our rights” to the land.

“The Sudan government, for them the best decision is if there is a partition so that they can accommodate the Arab Misseriya,” said Biong Deng.

He says the AU proposal was more than generous when it comes to grazing rights for the Misseriya as well as a 20 percent share for Sudan in oil production, which could be as low as 3,000 barrels per day.

Rebuilding an uncertain future

Abyei’s few residents say that they expect their families and friends to come back in the coming weeks and months to plant before the rains start, around May, but that they won’t be rebuilding their lives there.

“I wish… there was no insecurity. We could have the cows and goats and rebuild our house. But the situation now is so insecure,” said Deng, the tea seller.

Tensions remain acute. People near a mosque frequented by Misseriya claim the pastoralists come to plot rather than pray. In November, a UNIFSA peacekeeper was killed at the mosque during protests by the Dinka Ngok against the Misseriya.

Attempts to interview Misseriya traders in the Abyei market ended in around two dozen people demanding to know why northerners were being spoken to and insisting that permission first be sought from a local chief.

One Misseriya businessman said that he had no problem with the Dinka, but feared his business would be finished if Abyei went to South Sudan.

“People remain displaced everywhere. We hope that people can come back one day and live in peace,” said Mangom. “In case the situation is settled I’ll come back, but it’s a matter of time and resolutions.”

“I hope to have a chance to go to school. I used to go in the village [school] up to the second class, and after that, we saw that the cattle were being killed and stolen, and I went to help with the cows,” said Najida.

“I want to be teaching people. I’d like to teach them, even the elders, to keep the peace.”

hm/rz

OCHA’s Director of Operations, John Ging, said at UN Headquarters today that he had asked the Security Council for help for some 900,000 Sudanese people who are in need of humanitarian aid in South Kordofan and Blue Nile provinces and in neighbouring countries where they have sought refuge.

Read the full story on OCHA

Highlights

• Disarmament campaign details clarified
• Increase in number of students arriving in Yida
• Unaccompanied Minors reunited

By Bonifacio Taban Kuich

January 8, 2013 (BENTIU) - Cattle owners in South Sudan’s Unity State say that the government has failed to protect them from raids from neighbouring areas after an estimated 7,000 cattle were stolen from Payinjiar County in December.

The raiders are suspected to have come from neighbouring Lakes State, Payinjiar County authorities say, adding that 11 civilians were killed in last month’s raids. However, local people told Sudan Tribune on Monday that 17 people died in the December attacks.

An estimated 7,409 cattle were taken from Makur cattle camp, which hosts 100,000 heads of cattle, locals say.

James Gatluak Gatbuok a survivor from Makur attack says he alone lost 76 cows. He accused the government of neighbouring Lake State of involvement in their attack.

“I have told my state government those who came and attack us were not civilians, they are part of government security, I got surprise when they use machine guns something like PKM. I wonder how civilians got access to such heavy machine guns, let the government tell us whether civilians in Lake State have factory for manufacturing such heavy weapons”, said Gatbuok.

Authorities in Rumbek, the capital of Lakes State, have denied any involvement in the incident.

The spokesman for South Sudan’s army (SPLA), Colonel Philip Aguer, has also denied that the military is behind any cattle raiding attacks. Aguer told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday that there are criminals who dress in army uniform to tarnish the image of the SPLA.

Payinjiar County authorities say the December attack was provocative to both the government and civilians and have confirmed the deployment of security forces along roads in the area.

Michael Thoar Gatpan, a Payinjiar official, says both Unity and Lake State have not deployed enough forces in the area to protect civilians. The axis between Unity, Lakes an Warrap is one of South Sudan’s must dangerous internal borders, with cross-border raids and counter attacks a common occurrence.

“The cattle raiders move freely from there to there but we have no good control between states government where they can also try to control those cattle raiders”, added Gatpan.

Payinjiar authorities report that the state government sent an extra 150 security forces after the raid on Makur last month. Ezekiel Lony Kaok a resident at Payinjiar County says cattle raiding is a major challenge for people in the area after they were disarmed and promised protection by the SPLA.

After decades of civil war South Sudan remains awash with small arms despite government attempts to disarm civilians. However, communities that have handed over their weapons complain that they are now vulnerable to attack.

Kaok says that for the last three years people from Payinjiar have been unable to defend themselves due to the poor government response to cattle raids. He claims that the death of innocent civilians is due to the South Sudanese government’s "weak disarmament" policy.

“Every day we die and this death come us a result of weak disarmament, leaving other civilians with guns on their hand and disarm one side, if that is the matter let government return back our guns in order to protect our cattle from raiders”, said Kaok.

Although the cycle of cattle raiding continues in South Sudan despite the disarmament efforts, locals say that state government are not acting to stop the problem. One suggestion to end the disputes over cattle is that owners must bear certificates of registration to prove the ownership of their cattle.

(ST)

December 8, 2013 (LONDON) - Around 80 people were killed in fighting between rival clans of the Misseriya tribe in the town of al-Fula in South Kordofan State on 6 January, a source in the area told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday.

The fighting began at 8am on Sunday 6 January when the Awlad (Sons of) Heiban attacked al-Fula town killing 20 members of the Awlad Serur and Awlad Metanin Misseriya groups, who live in the area.

The source in Al-Fula, which is in the west of the state, said that police and security forces were outnumbered and did not intervene in the clash, which lasted for around 10 hours.

Initial reports indicated that 11 people were killed from the Heiban clan and 6 from Awlad Serur and Metanin but the number of fatalities appear to have increased dramatically as police brought bodies back from the scene of the fighting, on the edge of the town, to Al-Fula’s graveyard.

The witness in Al-Fula told Sudan Tribune that 60 members of the Awlad Heiban clan, who attacked the town, as well 20 members of Awlad Serur and Awlad Metanin were killed during the defence of the town. The true number of dead was only now emerging, he said, now that security was being restored to the area.

The source said he had seen the graves of those killed, as they had been buried on Monday and Tuesday.

Many of those involved in the fighting were former members of the police and the Popular Defence Forces (PDF) - a government paramilitary armed during the two-decade civil war with southern rebels - in now what is independent South Sudan - and members of the Nuba tribe from the Nuba Mountains in the central and eastern parts of South Kordofan.

As part of the 2005 peace deal that led to South Sudan’s separation 18 months ago, the predominantly Misseriya populated Western Kordoan State was merged into South Kordofan State.

However the SPLM-North have been fighting the government in South Kordofan since June 2011 after a disputed election and the failure to implement popular consultations and over aspects of the 2005 peace deal related to the area before South Sudan’s independence.

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir confirmed in his New Year address that the government has proposed re-instituting Western Kordofan State. Such a move is seen by some as potential way to end the conflict by appointing Governor Ahmed Haroun to head Western Kordofan and offering the SPLM-N’s Abdulaziz al-Hilu, who lost to Haroun in the April 2011 election, the position of Governor of a reconstituted South Kordofan.

The possibility of a deal of this nature has been made less likely by the SPLM-N’s coalition with Darfur rebels, which it entered into after a framework agreement with the government in August 2011 was rejected by Khartoum, leading the outbreak of fighting in Blue Nile, another state on the border with South Sudan.

Considering the level of violence and the apparent high number of dead from Sunday’s clashes, it is expected to be some months until a Misseriya conference can be organised to address the differences that caused the recent conflict, as security and trust between the clans will first have to be restored.

Before oil was discovered in South Kordofan the Misseriya did not have such fierce disputes over land between their various clans, according to local people. But since oil was discovered the value and potential value of land has risen significantly, with groups hoping they will benefit if oil is discovered on land they control.

(ST)

HIGHLIGHTS

• Up to 8,000 people were reportedly newly displaced in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State in the past month, due to cross-border tensions between South Sudan and Sudan.
• Humanitarian assistance was underway in Western Bahr el Ghazal State, to people in Wau town affected by an outbreak of protests and violence in mid-December.
• A reported increase in aerial bombardments in Sudan’s South Kordofan resulted in an increase of students arriving to Yida refugee camp in Unity State.

Over 30 humanitarian crises face South Sudan as 2012 comes to a close. Aid agencies are focused on responding to the needs of over 200,000 refugees, the majority having fled conflict in Sudan. Food insecurity also drives the humanitarian situation, with 2.7 million food insecure people being fed in 2012, as of November. Insecurity in several northern states in December highlighted the fragility of the humanitarian situation.

Humanitarian partners appeal for US$1.18 billion to meet emergency needs in South Sudan for 2012.