October 9, 2012 (KHARTOUM) — The partners of a tripartite humanitarian initiative to reach the affected civilians in south Kordofan and Blue Nile announced their readiness to start the operating in the government controlled areas but said they are still waiting for rebels’ observations before to work in their zones.

Since one month, delegates from U.N. agencies, African Union and Arab League are discussing with the Sudanese Humanitarian Commission ways to implement a deal reached earlier last August in Addis Ababa allowing them to deliver aid to the needy population the Two Areas including SPLM-N held positions.

The humanitarian operation had to start in August, but the process was delayed by the lack of data pertaining to the number of civilians and their sites, the two regional organisations also had to provide the lists of monitors. The absence of some representatives of the tripartite initiative from the meetings, on the other hand, contributed to the delay..

In a statement released in Khartoum on Tuesday, the Tripartite Partners said they "prepared an Action Plan for needs assessment and distribution of humanitarian aid to war-affected civilians in the South Kordofan and Blue Nile States."

The partners said they communicated their plan to the Sudanese government on 8 October, as they parallely tried during ten day through multiple channels in vain to " to obtain the views and observations of the SPLM-North."

The three partners further said they will proceed with the implementation of the plan once they get the government’s final view.

Due to the grave humanitarian situation, " the option for immediate commencement of the implementation of the Action Plan in the locations where the Government confirmed its ability to secure the distribution and assessment teams, strongly presents itself," they said.

The statement underscored also the need secure the safety of humanitarian teams which will work in the two states, once the SPLM-N gives its view to the organisers of the operation.

"The implementation of the assessment and distribution plan requires a commitment towards a cease-fire and a cessation of hostilities from both sides, as provided for in the two Memoranda of Understanding," the three partners said.

They further regretted the mortar attack on the capital of South Kordofan underlining that a shell landed in a U.N. compound there pointing out it "could adversely affect the chances of activating the Tripartite Initiative on the ground and with the desired speed."

Reuters reported that one or two shells landed inside the UNICEF compound in Kadugli, during the shelling. The shells did not explode but a woman was injured by a rocket explosion outside the compound.

Since the conflict began in June 2011, 600,000 people have been forced to flee from their homes in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, with over 170,000 crossing into South Sudan.

(ST)

Lisa Cicala
Video Producer/Editor

At 14, Marsa has never known a true home. Growing up as a refugee during the Sudanese civil war, she zigzagged with her family between temporary camps. They have recently been able to return to South Sudan, but the basics for her learning are still missing.

Find out how Mercy Corps is giving Marsa a second chance at an education — and what she plans to do with it.

• Food security in 75% of African countries at high or extreme risk – Maplecroft global index

10/10/2012 14:26 GMT

by Abdelmoneim Abu Edris Ali

KHARTOUM, Oct 10, 2012 (AFP) - A child was wounded from shelling around the capital of Sudan's South Kordofan state on Wednesday, a witness said, as rebel artillery fired fresh barrages in what they call a reaction to government bombing.

"This morning, four shells fell on the ground east of the town ... I myself saw one child injured because of today's firing," a Kadugli resident told AFP.

He said that on Tuesday night he also heard shelling, which other residents told him had hit a school compound.

"If they (the army) bomb our locations, then we will respond immediately," said Arnu Ngutulu Lodi, spokesman for the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N). "We are responding."

Lodi confirmed the rebels had shelled "inside Kadugli" on Tuesday evening.

An official of the UN World Food Programme, which has 16 staff in Kadugli, also reported that shells landed Tuesday and Wednesday but the army spokesman, Sawarmi Khaled Saad, denied the latest rebel firing.

Saad also said there had been no government bombing of insurgent positions.

A rare barrage against the government-held capital on Monday killed six women and children, Governor Ahmed Haroun was quoted by official media as saying earlier.

The United Nations condemned Monday's attack, which it called indiscriminate and reprehensible. One shell landed in the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) compound but failed to explode.

Lodi said the insurgents' artillery fire was self-defence in the face of government shelling and aerial bombardment of rebel positions, which continued Tuesday and Wednesday.

"Our target is military movements and compounds," but the government has placed them near schools, UN and similar facilities, he said.

The Kadugli shelling has coincided with talks there between the ruling National Congress Party and others about how to end the war which the UN says has displaced or severely affected hundreds of thousands of people.

The army has accused rebels of trying to disrupt the meeting but Lodi said there was no connection.

Ethnic minority insurgents from the SPLM-N fought alongside rebels from southern Sudan who waged a 22-year civil war which ended in a 2005 peace deal leading to South Sudan's independence last year.

Fighting erupted in South Kordofan the month before South Sudan separated.

The shelling comes after Sudan and South Sudan in late September signed deals on security and cooperation that they hailed as ending their countries' conflict.

The neighbours fought along their undemarcated frontier in March and April, sparking fears of wider war and leading to a UN Security Council resolution ordering a ceasefire and the settlement of unresolved issues, under African Union mediation.

Among the deals reached in Addis Ababa is agreement on a demilitarised border buffer zone designed to cut support for SPLM-N rebels in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

Khartoum accuses Juba of backing those insurgents, and the South in turn says Sudan has armed rebels in its territory.

A diplomatic source said the rebels may have wanted to disrupt the Kadugli peace conference but, after Addis Ababa, their action could also be an attempt to show strength as well as displeasure with the agreements which the government may use to "squeeze" them.

The rebels could have an interest in escalating the conflict so South Sudan would be dragged in again, said the source, declining to be named.

"I had expected them to try to derail the new relationship between Sudan and South Sudan. To do it this way, I'm not sure is very smart," he said, because it shows "they are capable of spreading the same terror as the government is."

str-it/hkb

© 1994-2012 Agence France-Presse

This map illustrates the Batil refugee camp in Maban County of Upper Nile State in South Sudan. The Batil camp was largely constructed between May and August of 2012 and is the site of recurring floods due to its proximity to nearby marshes. Using a combination of high-resolution optical satellite imagery a total of 6,957 shelters were detected as of 5 August 2012. In addition 204 non-shelter structures were detected, including a likely market area and camp support facilities. A primary dirt road borders the camp to the northeast, while secondary dirt roads are present within the camp as well. Notably, the large majority of shelters are likely accessible only on foot and many shelters are situated as much as 1.5 kilometers away from the secondary roads. This analysis has not yet been validated in the field.

This map illustrates the Doro refugee camp in Maban County of Upper Nile State in South Sudan, the site of recurring floods due to its proximity to nearby marshes. Using a combination of high-resolution optical satellite imagery a total of 8,125 shelters and 264 non-shelter structures were detected as of 22 August 2012. The camp does not appear to have significantly changed between the 22nd August and 4 of October 2012 however what appears to be seasonal water has appeared to the south of the camp near the airport. This analysis has not yet been validated in the field.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Seasonal flooding is likely to have a significant effect on the performance of crops and livestock production this year, as well as negatively impact food security, according to the latest FAO flood report.
• Health organizations in Upper Nile State continued to monitor potential cases of Hepatitis E, with 22 people having died since the outbreak began in September.
• Insecurity continued to restrict access to conflictdisplaced communities in Jonglei State’s Pibor County.

Child Brides Denied Education, Face Violence, Health Catastrophes

(Geneva, October 10, 2012) – As the world celebrates the first International Day of the Girl Child on October 11, 2012, eliminating child marriages should be a key political priority for governments to protect the rights of girls and women, Human Rights Watch said today.

Child marriages occur when one of the parties is below 18 years of age and are a violation of human rights that disproportionately affects girls. Child marriages also violate other human rights; including to education, freedom from violence, reproductive rights, access to reproductive and sexual health care, employment, freedom of movement, and the right to consensual marriage.

In 2005, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimated that over 100 million girls would get married over the next decade. The UNFPA will present new data on prevalence of child marriage worldwide at the United Nations on October 11, 2012.

“The first global Day of the Girl should usher in a renewed global commitment to put a stop to marriages of children below age eighteen,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, director of the women’s rights division at Human Rights Watch. “Governments should work harder to prevent child marriage and to increase awareness of the harm that they cause.”

Human Rights Watch has documented human rights violations against married girls and boys in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Iraq, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, South Sudan, and Yemen. The testimonies of the children interviewed illustrate the profoundly detrimental impact of child marriage on their physical and mental well-being, education, and children’s ability to live free of violence. The consequences of child marriage do not end when child brides reach adulthood, but often follow them throughout their lives as they struggle with the health effects of getting pregnant too young and too often, their lack of education and economic independence, domestic violence, and marital rape.

Child marriage almost inevitably disrupts girls’ education and exposes them to domestic violence. Human Rights Watch spoke to Faiza Ahmed, a Bangladeshi girl who did not know how old she was, but thought that she might be 15 or 16. Faiza was forced to marry soon after she finished class five. After the marriage, she could not satisfy her husband’s demands for money from her family (dowry demands), and he beat her and eventually poured acid on her face, eyes, and back.

Describing her horrific and violent marriage, Faiza said, “I was so sad and crying at the time of my marriage. I could not even see the paper [marriage contract]. All my tears were falling on it. I didn’t want to leave my dad and be married. I also wanted to study…If I had studied, I would have been like you [interviewer]. Could have been writing and reading…Within two-and-a-half months of my marriage, my husband started to beat me…Then one night at around 11 [pm] I was sleeping. My husband woke me up and asked me whether I wanted to go to the bathroom. I said no and went back to sleep. After sometime he woke up and said he wanted to go and wanted me to keep him company. When I went outside, he flung something on my face…and it started burning. I started screaming and running. He caught my hand and poured more of it on my back. I had long hair. My hair used to be beautiful. Now it’s all burned. He burned my eyes. I cannot see properly anymore.”

Girls who marry young are more susceptible to early pregnancies and reproductive health complications associated with early pregnancy. Human Rights Watch interviewed Najla at a reproductive health clinic in Sanaa, Yemen. She did not know exactly how old she was, but she said that she was married soon after completing her second year in secondary school, which would have made her about 15 at the time of her marriage. She has two children who were born before she was 18 years old. She said:

I was pregnant with the second child when my firstborn was only five months old. For five days, I bled severely and I thought it was just my period. My mother-in-law knew what was happening to me, but she wouldn’t tell me anything. They [my in-laws] wouldn’t let me go to the hospital and wouldn’t tell my husband what was going on with me. When I became very dizzy, they finally took me to the hospital, but at the hospital they didn’t stop the bleeding and didn’t give me any treatment. I had to lie on my back for six months during my [second] pregnancy and I needed 500 cc of blood. The doctor told me it’s because I married early.

Poor State Response Governments can mitigate some of the worst abuses linked to child marriage by setting and enforcing age limits for marriage, establishing and enforcing compulsory marriage registers, and prosecuting perpetrators of forced marriage. Many, however, fail to do so.

In Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch documented how young girls who tried to escape from forced marriages or who ran away from abusive spouses and their families are arrested and imprisoned. Bashira S., 14, told Human Rights Watch that she was 12 when her father forced her to marry. She became pregnant soon after the marriage. Bashira fled from her abusive husband, but instead of receiving government protection, Bashira was accused and convicted of “running away,” and sentenced to two years in juvenile detention. Human Rights Watch spoke to many other girls in Afghanistan who had fled forced and abusive marriages and who were treated as criminals by the government.

Even where countries do attempt to discourage child marriage, they may fail to protect the rights of girls. In India, Human Rights Watch found that Indian policies designed to discourage child marriages in practice discriminate against girl brides. In May 2012, Human Rights Watch documented a case where a woman who was forced by her family to marry before she turned 18, was later disqualified from taking the Madhya Pradesh state civil services examination on the ground that she had married as a child.

The Janani SurakshaYojana (JSY) programme – sponsored by the Indian Central government – provides conditional cash transfers to women giving birth in health facilities and is linked to prenatal, in-hospital, and post-natal services. In many states with better health indicators, girls below 19 who are not from Scheduled Castes or Tribes, are excluded from availing of the scheme and in many the Central government limits the benefits to two live births. Similarly, The Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahayog Yojana, which is the Central government's cash assistance program to supplement pregnant and lactating women's nutrition and double up as a maternity benefit, has identical restrictions.

“Where governments fail to prevent child marriages, they should not punish girls who marry before they turn 18,” said Gerntholtz. “Putting young girls in prison, or adopting a policy of discrimination against young brides and mothers, jeopardizes their life and health rather than protecting them.”

In order to effectively address the problem of child marriages, Human Rights Watch recommends that states:

• Enact legislation that sets the minimum age for marriage at 18, and include requirements for the verification of the full and meaningful consent of both spouses.

• Take the necessary legislative and other measures to ensure that anyone who intentionally forces an adult or a child to enter into a marriage is appropriately penalized, and that marriages concluded under force may be voided, annulled, or dissolved without undue burden placed on the victim(s).

• Safeguard by law a victim’s right to seek financial compensation after voiding, annulling, divorcing, or otherwise dissolving the marriage and protect the rights of children born out of such a marriage.

• Provide training to law enforcement officials on gender discrimination and violence against women, including investigations into child marriages.

• Ensure that government or nongovernment efforts at discouraging child marriages do not directly or indirectly punish victims of child marriages by excluding them from health, education, employment or other services that protect, fulfill, and promote their human rights.

• Recognize marital rape as a criminal offense.

• Increase and improve access to reproductive healthcare for all girls and women in rural and urban areas by allocating greater resources from national health expenditure and more personnel.

• Ensure that access to emergency obstetric care, including monitoring of labor, trained birth attendants, newborn care, and contraception, is available to all girls and women in rural and urban areas.

• Raise awareness among health workers and the public on the importance of registering births, including home deliveries.

• Provide continuing formal education and vocational training opportunities for married girls and women.

“Child marriage is almost always also forced marriage. It disrupts girls’ education and exposes them to domestic violence and preventable health crises,” said Gerntholtz. “By working to tackle and end the marriage of children, the UN and global governments will help protect the rights of women and girls worldwide.”

10 October 2012 - Stepping up measures to protect the international community, the first officers of the South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS) diplomatic protection unit graduated today.

The diplomatic protection unit, which was established in April, will be responsible for securing the safety of international bodies such as embassies, international non-governmental organizations and UN agencies.

“It is the obligation of the state to protect the international community,” said Special Representative of the Secretary-General Hilde F. Johnson. “UNMISS is glad to support the establishment and development of the diplomatic protection unit.”

Ms. Johnson and South Sudanese Interior Minister Alison Manani Magaya signed a memorandum of understanding in August, in which UNMISS agreed to continue supporting transformation of the police service.

UNMISS and UN Police supported diplomatic protection training for a first batch of 100 officers, including nine women, in an eight-week programme that consisted of theoretical and practical sessions.

“We have started from 100 officers and hope to (give) support for more police officers in future,” said Ms. Johnson.

UNMISS also provided five vehicles, 40 radio sets and set up an office for the unit that will formally start operations in November. UN Police will advise and mentor the unit’s officers in the field during deployment.

“It’s another wonderful achievement in (the) police sector of South Sudan,” said Mr. Magaya. “There should be some remarkable change in crime trend when the unit kicks off its operation.”

He added that a recent report published by the South Sudanese government suggested that crime rates dropped from December 2011 to May 2012.

The minister also said the government was planning to establish new police bodies, including oil and border protection units, to safeguard civilians in border areas.

Wednesday, 10 October 2012 09:15 Diana Wani

A heavy downpour has destroyed several structures in Ayod county of Jonglei State.

The rain brought down residential houses, clinics, schools and market stalls on Tuesday night.

Ayod county commissioner, Mawich Makuai, told Radio Miraya that most people have fled to the county headquarters in search of shelter.

"There was heavy rain yesterday. It rained almost 24 hours and the level of flood has risen up and has destroyed all the market and the commodities. The residential areas are flooded including the schools, local clinics, churches and also the accommodation areas for the VIP, it is a very serious disaster," he said.

October 10,2012 (BOR) – South Sudan Red Cross (SSRC) distributed mosquito nets, blankets and other aid items to flood victims in Bor, Jonglei state, on Tuesday.

The Jonglei state director of SSRC, David Gai Deer, said that the distribution was a joint initiative including other humanitarian agencies. It targeted 1,500 vulnerable people.

Jonglei’s capital, Bor, and surrounding areas are flooded, following heavy rains that began at the beginning of August.

In August Duk county commissioner, Elija Mochnom, said 17,000 people have been displaced by flooding in his jurisdiction.

There is concern about the potential for an increase in the instances of waterborne disease which has come with the flooding; hence to necessity for the distribution of mosquito nets in the fight against malaria.

Collaborators included the International Organization for Migration, Save the Children, UN agencies and INTERSOS.

“We are working to help people who are more vulnerable in the communities by giving them materials to make their shelters,” said Gai.

“One single household is given two mosquito nets, two blankets, two mats [...] because their villages were destroyed by floods and most of them have nowhere to move their families,” he added.

Bor resident Amuor Kuei, who had to leave her home two months ago due to the flooding, described her ordeal. She noted that they were unable to defend there homes as the water from the Nile came upon them rapidly.

Another resident, Mayen Lueth, said that many temporary homes built from mud had collapsed and that it would not be possible to rebuild them until next dry season.

In September, elsewhere in Jonglei, a resident of Twic was killed when flooding destroyed a dike.

(ST)

FOOD SECURITY SNAPSHOT

• Good prospects for 2012 main season cereal crops

• Prices of cereals decline across the country, but are still high

• About 4.3 million people are food insecure, but food security conditions are expected to improve in coming months

Favourable outlook for the 2012 main cropping season

Harvesting of the 2012 sorghum and millet crops is expected to start from late October in most cropping areas of the country and production prospects are favourable. Good rains between June and August had a positive impact on crop growth, pasture conditions and water availability for livestock. Recent heavy rains caused localized flash floods in Darfur, Kassala, Gadaref and Blue Nile states, affecting thousands of people. Unusual rains into October, especially in southern cropping areas, carry some risk of damaging mature standing crops and hampering harvesting operations.

Cereal production in 2012, including the small irrigated wheat crop to be harvested in March 2013, is forecast at about 5.2 million tonnes, well above last year’s drought affected crop and about 15 percent above the last five years average. Good weather conditions and the increased engagement of IDPs in cultivation in conflict affected areas contributed to the optimistic outlook.

Cereal import requirements in 2012/13 marketing year (November/October) are forecast at an average of 2.2 million tonnes, well below the record level of the previous year.

Cereal prices decline, but are still high

Prices of the main domestic cereals (mainly sorghum and millet) started to decline in August from their record high levels. The gradual release of stocks by traders, as the good prospects for current crops became apparent, together with the recent improved humanitarian aid distribution in some conflict-affected areas, are the likely contributing factors for the price reductions. In fact, wholesale prices of sorghum (feterita) declined in September by 10 percent in both the capital Khartoum and in El Gadarif, located in the main producing area, and by 34 percent in Al Fashir in North Darfur.

However, despite the recent reductions, current sorghum and millet prices are still up to 150 percent of their levels of the same month last year. Between August and September, wholesale prices of wheat, mostly imported and consumed in urban markets, declined by 5 percent in Khartoum but, compared to September 2011, they are currently 18 percent higher.

Food security conditions expected to improve

Countrywide, the estimated number of people in need of food assistance has currently reached its peak, at the end of the lean season, with about 4.3 million people. Overall food security conditions are expected to improve in the coming weeks with the beginning of the new harvest. In particular, the number of food insecure people is expected to decrease significantly in Darfur (by approximately one third) due to the good production prospects and improved access to land for IDPs.

However, food insecurity is likely to persist in conflict-affected areas of the Blue Nile, South Kordofan and North Darfur states as well as among poor households in the Red Sea and Kassala states. According to the UNHCR, since June 2011, more than 210 000 Sudanese refugees from South Kordofan and Blue Nile states fled to Upper Nile and Unity states in South Sudan and to western Ethiopia.

Highlights

• Four UNAMID peacekeepers killed in an ambush in West Darfur.

• More than 1,500 people newly displaced in Eastern Jebel Marra, Darfur.

• National meningitis campaign launched in parts of Sudan, targeting 17 million people.

• Sorghum exports to South Sudan to resume, while FAO expects good cereal harvests this year.

This report covers the period 1 January 2012 to 31 June 2012

Overview

Since the independence of the Republic of South Sudan on July 9 2011, the process towards recognition of the South Sudan Red Cross (SSRC) has seen remarkable progress with the adoption of the “Red Cross Act” by the National Assembly in January 2012 and the formal signature into law by President Salva Kiir in April 2012. A membership drive launched in January 2012 brought the remarkable recruitment of over 2,000 persons of all ages, origins and walks of life and the organization of assemblies by July 2012 in all but one of the ten branches to elect governing bodies, thus preparing for a very first national General Assembly planned for October 2012. At the same time, the recruitment for key positions to strengthen the National Society headquarters’ structure progressed well albeit slowly due to difficulties in identifying suitable and competent candidates among the many applicants.

The decision by South Sudan in January 2012 to halt all oil production and export through Sudan due to an unbridgeable gap in the positions on transit fees for the use of Sudan’s pipelines and Port Sudan brought a significant cut of government income (approximately 90%) in an already very dire economic situation. The consequences were increasingly felt towards mid-year and the third quarter.

In April 2012, heavy fighting broke out around one of the most important oilfields of Sudan. Presently, a cessation of hostilities holds in a generally volatile atmosphere between the two countries. Other remaining contentious issues such as border demarcation, Abyei and the status of southerners in the North contributed further to uncertain and a generally tense environment. Although slower than initially feared, the arrival of tens of thousands of people originating from the South of Sudan brought additional pressure on already vulnerable communities in the bigger urban agglomerations. In May 2012, IFRC decided to launch an Emergency Appeal for “Returnee and Host Communities” and as a result shifted most of the activities and resources planned in the Long Term Planning Framework (LTPF) to the Appeal.

Responding to the Crisis in Syria

Instability and conflict in Syria continue to affect hundreds of thousands of people. An estimated one million Syrians have been internally displaced, while the overall total affected population is estimated at up to 2.5 million.

CERF has responded to the crisis with a total of US$30 million in 2012 – most recently with $16 million to FAO, UNICEF, UNRWA, UNHCR, WFP, UNFPA, IOM and WHO to enable a scaled-up response through provision of life-saving assistance in the areas of shelter, food, health, education, livelihoods, agriculture and water and sanitation. In 2012, $9 million has also been allocated to neighbouring countries affected by the conflict.

New CERF Advisory Group Members

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced seven new members for the CERF Advisory Group. More than 30 nominations were received. The nominations were reviewed with a view to gender balance, broad geographic representation, and a healthy donor and recipient balance.

The new members are Ms. Catherine Walker (Australia), Mr. Wenliang Yao (China), Ms. Nancy Butijer (Croatia), Mr. Mathewos Hunde (Ethiopia), Ms. Yuka Osa (Japan), Ms. Susan Eckey (Norway) and Ms. Susanna Moorehead (UK). The new members will participate in the next Advisory Group meeting in Geneva on 30 and 31 October.

On September 27, 2012, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir signed agreements concerning a host of issues resulting from South Sudan’s July 2011 secession. The agreements concern issues of oil and other financial matters, border security, and citizenship. They represent the culmination of a nearly two and half year-long negotiation process and, if implemented, have the potential to further consolidate peace and security within and between the two Sudans. However, the success of these agreements ultimately hinges on the resolution of the remaining outstanding issues on which the two presidents were unable to agree, chief among them the final status of the disputed Abyei area.

Straddling the ill-defined international border separating the two Sudans, Abyei is the traditional homeland of the nine Ngok Dinka chiefdoms, a group with strong ethnic, cultural, and linguistic ties with the Dinka of South Sudan. Misseriya herders, members of a northern nomadic Arab tribe, seasonally traverse the Abyei area with their cattle. While Abyei was administratively transferred to the North in 1905, its Ngok Dinka inhabitants sided with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, or SPLM, and its predecessor, the Anyanya movement, during Sudan’s successive North-South civil wars.

Despite Abyei’s central role as a catalyst for North-South tensions, the international community has historically dodged the difficult issue of the area’s final status – or the question of whether the area should be part of Sudan or South Sudan – and, in doing so, has repeatedly sacrificed the safety, security, and livelihoods of the Ngok Dinka people for the sake of other concerns and interests. The most recent iteration of this behavior came last week, when the international community failed to pressure the government of Sudan to accept an African Union proposal concerning the conduct of a referendum in the area.

In recent years, the international community’s calculus vis-à-vis Abyei has created an environment in which Sudanese government and government-backed forces were twice able to use brutal force to cleanse the area of its Ngok Dinka inhabitants. If not corrected immediately, the international community’s latest failure on Abyei could leave the area vulnerable to further instability and unrest, which risks unraveling the delicate peace that the two Sudans now enjoy.

Regina Anek, a Deputy Director for Gender at South Sudan’s Ministry of Education in Eastern Equatoria state, just saved a 14-year-old girl from an early, forced marriage. She was empowered to intervene as a result of a series of trainings she received from a USAID-supported girls education program that provides mentoring training to teachers and education officials to encourage girls not only to enroll in but also to complete secondary school.

USAID’s Gender Equity through Education Program has strengthened the education system by addressing financial and infrastructure barriers, social and cultural barriers, and institutional barriers to gender parity in education, through scholarships; advocacy, community mobilization, and mentoring; and institutional support. The mentoring training gave Regina skills to intervene in situations where girls face communal pressure to drop out of school to get married.

“I was informed that a student from one of the schools in my state was about to be married off, and I hurried to convene a meeting with the family and community to stop the matter,” Regina explained. “Meanwhile, I asked the parents to allow me to accommodate the girl at my house so that she could continue attending school as we resolved her marriage case.” Regina added that after weeks of negotiating and educating the girl’s parents and community leaders on the importance of an educated girl to the family and society as a whole, the girl was allowed to return home and continue with school.

These USAID-supported mentoring activities are meant to support girls within and outside of the educational structure to address broader social and cultural issues that keep girls from completing their education.

Survey data indicate that while 30 percent of boys in South Sudan complete the eight-year primary cycle, only 17 percent of girls do. The legacy of war in South Sudan is one factor, but girls’ education is also hampered by other social, cultural and financial barriers that hinder them from either enrolling in or staying in school.

One cultural barrier is early marriage. Persistent poverty in communities has been cited as a major reason that parents give their daughters in marriage in exchange for some financial security for the family, but some cultural norms also dictate marriage readiness for girls as young as 13. The community at school and outside of school stigmatizes older girls in school, which adversely affects their school attendance. With USAID’s mentoring support and some tuition stipend, many girls who were married at an early age are able to return and complete secondary school.

USAID’s efforts in supporting girls’ education in South Sudan date back to 2002, when scholarship support was provided to girls to complete secondary school and join teacher training institutes. This was aimed at encouraging more women to join the teaching profession, because research indicates that targeted recruitment of women has a correlation with girls completing school. USAID provided more than 9,000 scholarships through this program to girls and disadvantaged boys in secondary school and more than 4,400 scholarships to students in teacher training institutes in South Sudan and the “Three Areas” on the Sudan-South Sudan border (Abyei, Blue Nile, and Southern Kordofan).

As dissent to Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party, or NCP, grows, the elusive question of what an alternative government would look like has spurred visionary documents from Sudan’s opposition groups.

On October 4, members of the armed opposition the Sudan Revolutionary Front, or SRF, met in Kampala and signed a 20-page document entitled “The Restructuring of the Sudanese State,” which offers an alternative blueprint to President Bashir’s authoritarian regime. This unprecedented agreement marks the first time the SRF has outlined a plan for how Sudan can transition from a dictatorship to democracy.

The document addresses relations between the center and periphery, gender and youth-related issues, accountability for genocide and war crimes, reconciliation, and the need for a national constitutional process. According to Yasir Arman, the SRF’s secretary for external affairs, the alliance is seeking dialogue with Sudanese political forces and civil society groups, including youth movements, women’s groups and trade unions, as well as regional and international actors to “forge a better understanding on the question of the transformation of Sudan.”

According to the Sudan Tribune, the document calls for an interim period of six years to reorganize the state of Sudan and provide more power to the provinces. During the interim period, the government would be led by a collegial body chaired by a president, and state governors would serve as vice-presidents. Radio Dabanga reports that the rebels stressed that a new constitution would ensure diversity of ethnicity, culture, and religion in Sudan. At the meeting, the SRF also discussed the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, and recent atrocities committed in Darfur.

The SRF document follows the release on September 24 of the full text of the Democratic Alternative Charter, a parallel document, by the National Consensus Forces, or NCF. The NCF, a coalition comprised of Sudan’s main political opposition parties, including the National Umma Party, the Islamist Popular Congress Party, and the Sudanese Congress Party, originally signed the charter on July 4. It calls for using “political, popular, and peaceful means” to topple the Bashir regime and establishing a transitional system to be governed by a “Constitutional Declaration” that is in the drafting stage.

Although there are fundamental differences between these two documents, both lean toward inclusivity of the periphery—a critical component that is missing in the ruling NCP’s longtime approach to governance.

Ousting the current regime is going to be the real challenge as Bashir is doing all that he can to tighten his grip on power. Following the recent agreement between Sudan and South Sudan, the NCP invited all political opposition groups to a constitutional conference to prepare a permanent constitution that would supersede the current transitional one. All the opposition groups rejected the invitation, stressing the need for an inclusive process that would allow rebel groups to participate and address the conflicts in Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile.

“While the SRF and NCF are trying to iron out their differences and create a political platform that will move Sudan forward, the NCP is recoiling and trying to exclude all the viable political parties from the constitutional review,” said Omer Ismail, Enough Project Senior Policy Advisor. “The opposition groups rejected the NCP’s invitation to participate in the constitutional review because the Khartoum regime is not sincere in its claim to inclusivity. The NCP refuses to create a political environment conducive for debate as it continues to curtail the political space and crackdown on activists and media.”

This smoke screen of an inclusive constitution drafting process is the NCP’s latest attempt to consolidate its power amid the growing threat of an alternative regime. Moving forward, the SRF and NCF’s alternate “blueprints” of how to govern Sudan can serve as powerful tools to help shape the future of the country and build a foundation of support among Sudanese citizens and the international community for the path forward to a democratic transition.

By Trayle Kulshan Interim Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Advisor

Some things never change, even for the newest country in the world: South Sudan has been hit by another round of flooding. The period from August to October is known as the “flood season,” and each year thousands of people are displaced, and property and crops are destroyed.

This year has seen the worst floods in five years, but the good news is that in some areas, humanitarian actors and communities were prepared and a humanitarian emergency was minimized.

Across the country 245,902 people have been affected. Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Unity states in the North of the country as well as Jonglei state in the East have the most widespread flooding. Action Against Hunger is a part of the inter-agency response in the Northern Bahr el Ghazal state where over 7,200 people (about 1,200 households) have been displaced, according to a recent report by the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

When it floods in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, people move to higher ground, which is often railway or road sections that are elevated or to emergency sites established by the government. Many people have converged near Aweil town where, despite access problems, some aid is being delivered.

The inter agency assessment to the area showed that health, shelter, food, and water were priority needs. While malaria, diarrhea and eye infection cases are on the rise, the local health centre is flooded. Also worrying is the fact that livelihood activities have been disrupted, household food stocks have been soaked and crops in production have been destroyed. Several schools have collapsed and there are reported tensions with the host community.

While health actors are maintaining a mobile clinic to serve displaced populations, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) actors have been mobilized in the prevention of disease. Open defecation has been observed, water sources have been flooded and contaminated, and simple household hygiene items have been lost (IA assessment report, 18 September 2012).

An important part of averting an all out disaster in the face of risk is to be prepared. Action Against Hunger’s WASH team in South Sudan was well prepared and is currently busy responding to these basic needs in order to prevent disease within this vulnerable population alongside other actors in the area. Action Against Hunger’s country team had previous training in emergency response to be ready to react in a quick, coordinated and effective manner. Additionally, Action Against Huger ensured that resources were in place in advance, namely stocks of hygiene related non-food items as well as specialized equipment for water supply like generators and submersible pumps.

Action Against Hunger has provided 299 vulnerable households (about 1,800 people) with hygiene kits, including essential items such as jerry cans, soap, buckets, and PUR water purification powders (which are effective on turbid waters, common in a flood situation). Additionally, 497 households (some 3,000 people) participated in hygiene promotion activities that focused on raising awareness of risks to disease, especially simple, but improved excreta disposal methods. As the floodwaters subside, Action Against Hunger’s technical WASH team will begin the process of cleaning and disinfecting contaminated water points for the longer term.