CPA day - 9th January

9th January – the seventh anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between Sudan & South Sudan, back in 2005, which brought an end to the longest civil war in Africa’s history. Well ... kind of.

Fast forward to 2012 and anyone here would be loathe to use the word ‘peace’ in either of these countries, which are still experiencing conflict – between themselves, and in the case of the South, within it. South Sudan has recently seen the killing of 2,000 civilians of one tribe by another tribe in Pibor, Unity State, which has been condemned as an act of ethnic cleansing. In December the leader of the rebel group South Sudan Democratic Movement/Army (SSDM/A), George Athor, was assassinated amongst much fighting between his group and the SPLA. There is ongoing bombing and fighting in the border region of Upper Nile (South Sudan) and Blue Nile (Sudan) states, between the SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) and Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), as well as ongoing fighting in South Kordofan state, all leading to widespread displacement of people into Upper Nile state. There have also been widespread deaths between tribes due to cattle raiding in a number of states, an annual occurrence in South Sudan. And of course, the North continues to attack the South in the volatile border regions, with on-ground clashes and aerial bombings still going on; and rebel groups in the western Sudan region of Darfur trying to bring down the Government.

Peace indeed.

Interestingly, 9^th January was the day that I returned to Upper Nile, where Oxfam has been playing its part in an emergency response for Sudanese refugees.

When Jamam first appeared on the horizon, I didn’t recognise it. The town seemed a lot larger and busier than I remembered, with many new shops having sprung up. There was a big white tent next to our compound, with local trucks, built in the sixties and adorned in all sorts of colourful designs, lined up out the front. Many new houses had appeared around the perimeter, adding to the sprawl of people that had come to Jamam seeking refuge. Further down the road were the unmistakable white tents of a refugee camp with blue UNHCR logos plastered all over them.

And there are people everywhere. Walking on the road, women clad head-to-toe in beautifully-coloured cloth, indicating they come from the Muslim north, poles slung over their shoulders with heavy jerry cans dangling at each end in a delicate balance, couched comfortable in string baskets. Young boys hassle their donkeys to move faster from the carts at the rear, carrying water or grass, always in a hurry.  Older men walk slowly in long white jalabahs, their heads adorned in white Fez hats, chatting quietly in groups. Teenage boys sit by the roadside, selling small goods like sugar, salt and tea.


Further along past the rows of white tents, people have settled in a ramshackle manner on the cracked-mud scorched earth, the product of the recent floods which have now dried, plus the widespread burning of grass that is practiced locally. Groups of women and children huddle under the trees, their belongings hastily arranged around them, cooking their sorghum ugali over crackling fires. The odd heavily-laden bicycle leans up against a tree or stands by the road, the vehicle of choice for carrying personal items for many of the men. The women have had to walk; they carry their items on their heads, their babies on their backs and lead their children along the road. These refugees have yet to be registered by UNHCR and allocated tents and supplies. It's surprisingly chilly here at night, and I can't imagine their children and elderly family members staying warm.


The other side of the road, in the 'old' site where people originally took up residence, is a stark contrast. These more established refugees have built their own houses out of locally sourced wood and grass, some with quite secure, high fences, and constructed their own bathing shelters and latrines. Much fewer of them are living out in the open. But their plight is still as dire, with these people having been here longer, surviving on contaminated water and very little food, and not receiving the assistance of NGOs (apart from the water we've managed to provide them).

UNHCR have still been f*£%ing about trying to decide where the final site for the Jamam refugees should be. In my absence, a new UNHCR site planner had arrived to undertake demarcation on the ‘new’ refugee camp site, and had immediately declared it unfit due to it being a floodplain. Ummm ... thanks, Captain Obvious! Just like the site where refugees are now, having already been signalled as a site contaminated with UXOs, this is something UNHCR already knew. The reason that the local authorities allocated the existing site to the Jamam refugees is because it’s the only one for miles around that DOESN’T flood during the rainy season.

So, the white tents are temporarily housing a small but growing number of refugees, which have recently arrived. They have no clean water nearby; they’re now accessing the same haffir that the ‘original’ influx of refugees was, at their peril. What UNHCR seems to have finally decided is that they will temporarily relocate the refugees near our base to pave the way for mine/UXO clearance on the existing site. Hallelujah! It’s what we’ve been advocating for the whole time. There’s now some clarity around the situation, and because this has finally happened, other humanitarian actors (like us!) can go ahead and do our thing.

Newly arrived refugees have been given these tents by UNHCR to settle in the new site. When Mine Action Group arrive to begin preparations for clearing the existing site of UXOs, they will be moved temporarily while clearance occurs, then moved back their houses. Only problem is, the clearance process could take two-three months. This is way too long especially when you think about how long it has taken us to get to this point. Plus it will apparently take NPA with their mine clearing equipment around one month to even arrive.

UNCHR have also given an indication that the current ‘temporary’ site will likely become a ‘permanent’ site on the basis that it does not flood every year. Thanks Captain Obvious! But what I've now learned is, that while it looks like UNHCR are providing tents to the new arrivals, they've actually laid down their tools and given up on the idea. They say they just don't have the capacity to construct enough tents for everyone quickly enough, and it will take them two months to put them all up; they even went as far to say they anticipate that the camp will only be there for two months (which is bollocks ... this is permanent until the flooding, baby!) while they clear the original site, so they're not going to bother. Apparently these tents cost $500 each, and its estimated it cost around $500 each to get them here - because they were airlifted by special charter plane from the Middle East. Huge expenditure. Why stop now? They surely aren't short of cash...


So the new arrivals from Al Fuj - which are coming on foot (2-3 days walking), by their own transport, or by UNHCR-contracted trucks - are just dumped on the new site and expected to set up their new life. Thanks a lot UNHCR. How about we give some people tents, but not all, because we don't have the capacity to build more and we've suddenly decided to take our ball and go home? That won't cause any conflict. It makes me so angry - on top of feeling sad - about the whole situation. If you are going to truck people in to a refugee camp, you should at least provide them with shelter. At least on arrival and registration they are getting a 'Non-Food Items' package including bucket, jerry can and 1 month of soap along with a food basket from WFP.

In the meantime, every man and his dog are dropping past our compound to find out what's happening, using our WiFi and our bathrooms, camping overnight and storing their stuff here while they build warehouses next door.


MSF are going to set up a clinic in Jamam. Thank goodness. This is one thing people definitely need; there is currently no health care here. WFP (the UN’sWorld Food Program) have started distributing food to the Jamam refugees, which is also helping. Food aid is coming in the form of baskets comprising cereals, pulses, vegetable oil and salt for each family. They are transporting food to Jamam from Malakal for 10,000 refugees (all plastered with USAID logos, mind you. Ahh the joys of visibility - everyone has to be seen to be doing something to keep their little donors happy). Both organisations are slowly building up a presence – not to mention loads of supplies – in our compound. There are bags of food, boxes of non-food items and piles of tarpaulins ready for distribution. WFP have built a big rub hall right next to our compound, and UNHCR are apparently going to do the same, and we are going to expand our compound to encapsulate these ginormous tent warehouses. 

The trucks parked out the front initially brought in supplies; now that they’re empty, they’ll be used to transport around a reported 25,000 refugees from the conflict, who are waiting on the border in Al Fuj for UNHCR transport to Jamam. We got recent reports of another 20,000 more that are following.

Oxfam has finally completed drilling the four boreholes in the Doro camp, three of which unfortunately failed due to lack of groundwater, and have rehabilitated 5 v. But now at least we can now focus on drilling to provide water for the Jamam refugees. We had also been undertaking public health promotion activities in Doro; but now IOM are taking over all activities in the Doro camp, so we can focus on Jamam. We’ve handed over the boreholes and Hygiene Promotion activities to them. Doro's population has now climbed to 28,000.

Here in Jamam, the population in both sites (old and new) has reached around 10,000. The borehole in our compound has been rigged up to a submersible pump, elevated water tank, and six-outlet tap stand for people to get drinking water during controlled opening hours. We have repaired three broken boreholes in Jamam , which both they and the refugees can access to get clean water. We've rigged up 6,000L and 10,000L bladders to tap stands in the new site, and are regularly trucking water from a haffir nearby to fill them, as well as chlorinating the water to make it safer for drinking. Even so, we are still only providing 5 litres of water per person per day at this rate, and it's not nearly enough. But it's something at least.

Much of our stash of emergency items has arrived, so we can start putting together the superstructures for latrines on the new site, and hand out plastic sheeting for people to use for their self-built latrines. People have already started digging their own latrine pits with the limited tools they have, and we are going to distribute more tools to further encourage this. Once they've got the ‘poles’ for the latrine structure – essentially trees stripped of their obsolete branches and leaves - we'll provide the plastic sheeting. The people here show a lot greater level of knowledge on hygiene and sanitation, and are apparently used to a higher level of sanitation, so they're much more motivated to build their own latrines and keep their environment clean.

Another positive in all of this is that it gives surety for Oxfam operations in Maban county. The long-term program’s funding finishes at the end March, and it wasn’t clear what would happen after this – would we continue to work in a difficult, remote, sparsely populated and unrewarding region? You bet we will now. There are 30,000 people about to land on our doorstep.

This means that the compound is getting a makeover. The perimeter fence is going to be fortified with wire (instead of the flimsy bamboo, which doesn’t even keep the pigs and goats out) and extended to encapsulate the newly-built UNHCR and WFP rub halls. A new tukul is being erected, giving us a shady spot to relax in the heat of the summer (our beautiful Niem tree, the current location for lunch-time relaxation and story telling, apparently loses all of its leaves and becomes infested with scorpions - nice). The girls’ tents are having a privacy fence (dubbed the Berlin Wall) built around them (not sure why the boys don’t need one) and a permanent volleyball court has been installed (volleyball and net provided by yours truly). We might even get some more permanent sleeping arrangements installed – ie a BUILDING. Wow! Seems this emergency response will become part of the furniture. And that's all it took for our compound to get an upgrade - a refugee emergency and a cashed-up Emergency Response team. F*ck the staff that have been living here for 3 years in tents.They don't deserve any proper accommodation, entertainment or security. They're just long-term program staff.

But at least we now have some clarity about the emergency response. For now, our long-term Public Health program still has a lot of work to do. Some of the team members have been diverted to assist with emergency activities, but the rest are still here, struggling on with construction of new boreholes, rehabilitating broken ones, training communities to manage and operate their infrastructure and undertaking hygiene promotion activities. It's all being done with very limited means, which are even more limited now with the Emergency Response team requiring additional resources. We need to make sure our activities don’t suffer amongst all the attention that the emergency response is getting.