Sudan: Outlook for IDPs remains
bleak
Source: IDMC
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Displaced people
in Aweil, southern Sudan.
Beau/IDMC, May 2006
Beau/IDMC, May 2006
In southern Sudan, around 140,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) returned to their homes in the first six months of 2007, adding to more than one million IDPs estimated to have
returned since the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the central government and the southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army. The CPA marked the end of the 20-year
civil war estimated to have caused the death of up to two million people and the internal displacement of up to four million. Despite improved security, a number of unfulfilled provisions, such as the
withdrawal of central government troops from a contested oil-rich border area, may still lead to renewed war and displacement.
In western Sudan’s Darfur region, ongoing conflict has caused 2.2 million people to be internally displaced since 2003, including almost 250,000 since the beginning of 2007. The conflict has also forced more than 300,000 people into neighbouring countries, in particular Chad. Several hundreds of thousands of civilians have died in what has been described as “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis”. Following concerted international pressure the central government has accepted the deployment of a 26,000-strong United Nations/African Union military force mandated to protect the civilian population.
Despite the May 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement and numerous international political and humanitarian initiatives to stop human rights abuses and mitigate the consequences of forced displacement, the civilian population, including IDPs residing in camps, continues to be subjected to widespread killings, rapes, looting and other human rights abuses. Humanitarian conditions in the hundreds of IDP camps are worsening, and malnutrition rates are above emergency levels. Access for humanitarian organisations has worsened, with over a million people out of reach of urgently needed assistance as a result of deteriorating security conditions and denial of access to IDP camps.
The overall IDP figures in Sudan, particularly outside Darfur, are unreliable and there are few mechanisms to identify the specific forced migration patterns and protection needs of IDPs who are returning without the support of state institutions or international organisations. However the total is widely believed to be at least 4.5 million, making Sudan’s IDP crisis the largest in the world.
Read full Report on Internal Displacement in Sudan
Contact:
Jens-Hagen Eschenbächer
Head of Monitoring and Advocacy Department
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
Norwegian Refugee Council
Chemin de Balexert 7-9
CH-1219 Châtelaine (Geneva)
Tel.: +41 (22) 799 07 03
Fax +41 (22) 799 07 01
www.internal-displacement.org
In western Sudan’s Darfur region, ongoing conflict has caused 2.2 million people to be internally displaced since 2003, including almost 250,000 since the beginning of 2007. The conflict has also forced more than 300,000 people into neighbouring countries, in particular Chad. Several hundreds of thousands of civilians have died in what has been described as “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis”. Following concerted international pressure the central government has accepted the deployment of a 26,000-strong United Nations/African Union military force mandated to protect the civilian population.
Despite the May 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement and numerous international political and humanitarian initiatives to stop human rights abuses and mitigate the consequences of forced displacement, the civilian population, including IDPs residing in camps, continues to be subjected to widespread killings, rapes, looting and other human rights abuses. Humanitarian conditions in the hundreds of IDP camps are worsening, and malnutrition rates are above emergency levels. Access for humanitarian organisations has worsened, with over a million people out of reach of urgently needed assistance as a result of deteriorating security conditions and denial of access to IDP camps.
The overall IDP figures in Sudan, particularly outside Darfur, are unreliable and there are few mechanisms to identify the specific forced migration patterns and protection needs of IDPs who are returning without the support of state institutions or international organisations. However the total is widely believed to be at least 4.5 million, making Sudan’s IDP crisis the largest in the world.
Read full Report on Internal Displacement in Sudan
Contact:
Jens-Hagen Eschenbächer
Head of Monitoring and Advocacy Department
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
Norwegian Refugee Council
Chemin de Balexert 7-9
CH-1219 Châtelaine (Geneva)
Tel.: +41 (22) 799 07 03
Fax +41 (22) 799 07 01
www.internal-displacement.org
