OCHA: Surge of South Sudanese fleeing to East Darfur

Since late January 2016, there has been a surge in the number of South Sudanese fleeing into Sudan. Approximately 54,000 South Sudanese refugees have arrived in East and South Darfur and West Kordofan in just over two months. East Darfur has received about  43,000 of these new arrivals, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.

New arrivals are mostly coming from South Sudan’s Northern Bahr El Ghazal and Warrap states due to worsening food insecurity and ongoing conflict in the area, and arrive in Sudan in urgent need of food, humanitarian assistance and protection.

This is the first wave of South Sudanese refugees to arrive in large numbers in East Darfur, where no established mechanisms or resources were in place to receive and respond to a large influx, according to OCHA. Nearly half of all recent arrivals, almost 27,000 people, have come to East Darfur’s existing Khor Omer camp. Emergency response has been ongoing in Khor Omer since early February but key gaps persist, namely in access to water, sanitation, shelter and emergency household supplies. Access to locations in East Darfur other than Khor Omer has been limited due to security and other reasons.

Expected arrivals

OCHA expects further arrivals to continue, with a peak in late May prior the onset of the rainy season in South Sudan. A total of 93,000 South Sudanese refugees are anticipated in East Darfur by the end of June, with an additional 7,000 in South Darfur.

Over 221,000 South Sudanese have fled to Sudan since violence broke out in South Sudan in December 2013. Nearly 40 percent have settled in White Nile State, with the remainder primarily in Khartoum, West and South Kordofan states. Parallel to this new influx, a steady flow of arrivals into White Nile State continues with about 500 refugees registered per week.

East Darfur has received the bulk of the new influx, with 43,137 arrivals as of 20 April. Some 26,911 have settled in Khor Omer camp just outside Ed Daein town.

On 17 March, Sudan’s Cabinet of Ministers announced a decision that all South Sudanese in Sudan are to be treated as foreigners, instead of ‘brothers and sisters’ as they were previously regarded.

This is an excerpt from the OCHA Fact Sheet South Sudanese Influx Into East Darfur