WUNRN
Internal Displacement Monitoring
Centre - IDMC
Southern Sudan: Returnees Attacked
on Their Way South - Women & Girls
Photo - Refugees International
IDMC News Alert - February 11, 2011
IDPs
(Internally Displaced Persons) travelling to Southern Sudan before and after
the recent referendum on independence have faced difficulties during and after
their journey. Between November 2010 and January 2011, around 200,000 Southern
Sudanese IDPs living in the north returned to the south. There have been
various reports of convoys of returning southerners being attacked in the disputed region of Abyei
during and in the weeks following the January referendum, according to some
reports by Misseriya tribal militias loyal to the government in Khartoum.
OCHA has anticipated a greater need for assistance in urban areas and those
rural counties to which more people have returned. A higher number of returnees than expected are choosing
to remain in urban areas including Kwajok and Aweil, largely due to the better
services they offer and their similarity to IDPs’ environment in the north. In
rural counties to which significant numbers are returning, there are few
existing services and returnees and host communities are struggling to ensure
food security and to establish livelihoods.
The Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (SSRRC), IOM and
partners are monitoring, consolidating and verifying the number of returnees,
including those who have returned without assistance, to ensure they are
assisted as necessary.