Sudanese refugees: ‘We have no tents in Yida’

Refugees in Yida camp, South Sudan, continue to suffer from the lack of aid. The people who have fled from Sudan's Nuba Mountains are facing the start of the rainy season without shelter and plastic sheets.

On Monday, a number of refugees in Yida, close to the border with Sudan, told Radio Dabanga that the majority of the camp residents have been living in the open during the past days.

“They suffer from the torrential rains and the winds,” one refugee said. “The winds cause a lot of material losses. Most tents have collapsed.”

They said that the refugees have not received plastic sheets, usually provided by humanitarian organisations in the camp before the rainy season.

About 35,000 refugees from Sudan's Blue Nile are reportedly living in the open without cover from tents in Yusuf Batil camp in Upper Nile state in South Sudan. The rainy season lasts from approximately May to November. The muddy roads pose a problem for the food and relief transport of humanitarian organisations, sometimes cutting-off roads completely.

The refugee in Yida expressed fears that the situation will deteriorate in the coming days, and appealed to the humanitarian organisations to deliver plastic sheets.

Shutdown

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has announced preparations to close-down Yida and relocate refugees to other camps, which is scheduled for June. On 14 April, hundreds of refugees rallied in front of the UNHCR in Unity state against the planned shutdown.

Camp residents said that food rations have been reduced for the more than 700,000 refugees, and humanitarian organisations are scaling-down their services. The measures exert pressure on the refugees to move to the other camps.