2,240 people homeless in South Kordofan’s Habila

An inter-agency mission visited Habila on 6 April to assess the needs of 13,000 people who fled the town during an attack by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) on the town on 28 March, and returned after the situation had calmed again.

International aid organisations have been unable to reach other affected people in the area, owing to the insecurity in the region. Some assistance, however, was provided through local partners, while the Sudanese government provided food rations, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in its latest weekly bulletin.

According to people in Habila, about 60 percent of the town’s residents fled to Delling and Samasim. The remaining 40 percent hid in nearby areas and returned the same day, after the situation had calmed.

Local authorities reported that more than 360 homes were destroyed during the fighting, leaving 2,240 homeless. The town’s market was pillaged during the attack, the town’s generator was damaged, a school went up in flames, and livestock polluted numerous water sources.

The main needs of the affected people in Habila are food, water, and sanitation services, according to the inter-agency mission’s findings. Even before the attack, the town’s main water source was insufficient. Its residents primarily depend on open water catchments as their main source of water, the OCHA bulletin reads.

One of the three water sources in Habila has dried up, and livestock polluted the remaining two during the attack. People who continued to drink from these sources have started developing respiratory and diarrheal infections. Out of the town’s 21 hand pumps, nine require maintenance. The mission also found that only 20 percent of the residents have sanitation facilities in their homes.

Humanitarian aid

The Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS) distributed 20.16 metric tons of WFP-supplied sorghum to the 2,240 people whose homes were destroyed during the attack. They also received emergency household supplies (plastic sheets, sleeping mats, jerry cans, kitchen kits, blankets, and mosquito nets) from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and SRCS. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) provided 100 hygiene kits to the most vulnerable women in the town, distributed by the national El Mubadiroun organisation.

The mission found that Habila hospital caters to the health needs of all 65,000 people in the locality, though more trained medical staffs are required. The Ministry of Health provided the hospital with essential medicines and an emergency team to assist for five days. El Mubadiroun also donated medicines. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and Unicef provided the South Kordofan Ministry of Health with a one-month supply of emergency medicines.