Uganda’s sprawling haven for 270,000 of South Sudan’s refugees

When South Sudan descended into renewed violence last July, Bidi Bidi refugee camp was expected to hold 40,000 people. Soon after it opened, it started growing by twice that number every month. Now it’s a sprawling expanse of mud-walled huts and tents, inhabited by 270,000 of South Sudan’s refugees who have fled violence, hunger, and rapid inflation in their home country.

The Bidi Bidi settlement is believed to be the largest single refugee settlement in the world and it was built just six months ago. Its rapid growth is a reflection of the ongoing crisis in South Sudan, which the UN has warned could be on the verge of genocide.

Every day, thousands of people cross the border into Uganda. This year, the UN expects another 300,000 South Sudanese refugees to arrive, adding to the more than 600,000 already here. Of the current refugees, 86% are women and children.

“These innocent women and children who are fleeing now, they need a home,” says Robert Baryamwesiga, the Bidi Bidi settlement commandant. “They need a life, a normal life, because they are innocent. They are not politicians. They are just victims.”

Uganda has a unique refugee policy, allowing refugees in the country to work, travel and mix with the surrounding community. Scattered throughout the settlement are markets where refugees sell vegetables, packaged food and clothing. Entrepreneurs have set up small shops to fix motorcycles and build furniture. Schools, playgrounds and medical centers set up by aid groups cater to thousands of people.

In December, Bidi Bidi closed its doors to new refugees except for those reuniting with families already here. New migrants are being sent to a new settlement just an hour away, and work is already under way for a further camp.

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Fresh Clashes near South Sudan’s Oil Hub of Malakal

Fresh clashes broke out around South Sudan’s second-largest city of Malakal, the latest turn in the struggle for the capital of the oil-producing Upper Nile region.

The United Nations said Malakal was largely deserted after civilians fled the fighting.

“The rebels had been trying to provoke the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) all this time because the SPLA has been given instruction not to wage offensives against the rebel forces,” said military spokesman Colonel Santo Domic Chol. “This is in line with the call by the president for the national dialogue,” he added, referring to a presidential directive on dealing with the rebels.

However, rebel spokesman William Gatjiath Deng said government troops launched several attacks on rebel positions.

“In the fight this morning, [the] Juba regime suffered heavy losses in human and material, as bodies of the Juba regime soldiers lie everywhere,” he said in a press statement.

Neither Chol nor Deng had casualty figures.

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Trump Must Reverse Obama’s Lifting of Sudan Sanctions

With minimal explanation, outgoing President Obama eased sanctions on Sudan. It’s not clear why Obama did this, but it’s clear to many of those in the region that this move, unless reversed by President Trump, will harm poor people who face terror and have nothing.

The facts on the ground in Sudan and South Sudan do nothing to justify Obama’s decision to lift the U.S. trade embargo against Sudan and unblock the Sudanese regime’s assets. The Obama administration argues that the government of Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has made some “progress” on the counterterrorism front — yet not enough that Sudan will lose its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. Even the “progress” on terrorism is open to question. What’s not open to question is that Obama’s move to relieve sanctions, if not reversed by the new administration, forfeits U.S. leverage to end the repression and slaughter in this country, including the Darfur region. We’ve seen over the last eight years that throwing away U.S. power and influence — “leading from behind” — does not work.

Trump and Rex Tillerson should take what steps they can to immediately reverse the out-going administration’s shameful eleventh-hour decision. If not, they will make Obama and Kerry’s shame their own. Democrats in Congress should start asking as many questions about Iran, Cuba, and Sudan (real state sponsors of terrorism) as they have about Russia in recent weeks.

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Escaping the slaughter: The young refugees who ran from South Sudan’s ethnic violence

South Sudan is the world’s youngest country – and its young are suffering the most. More than a million people have fled abroad from ethnic violence that has killed an estimated 50,000.

The UN Refugee Agency, alongside Ugandan authorities, runs what has become the world’s second largest refugee camp. Bidi Bidi is home to 270,000 people – and it seems each of them is a witness to extreme brutality.

“It’s war and our parents die,” says Lena, a 16 year old refugee traumatized by the deaths of her mother and father. “There are many orphans here.”

The United Nations is sufficiently concerned at the escalation of violence to warn of the potential for genocide. However, the UN Security Council failed to agree an arms embargo on the country.

The UK government has provided more than £100m in aid to South Sudan this year and British troops are due to bolster the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan in the months ahead. But by then, there might be little peace to keep.

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Bookseller of Malakal brings words of comfort to war-torn South Sudan

Just over three years ago Juma’a Ali traveled to South Sudan to escape persecution with all the books he could carry. Unfortunately, around the time of his arrival, civil war broke out in the world’s youngest country. Now he is one of the tens of thousands displaced people, but he still has hope. Ali’s little book shop now stands as a source of education and distraction from the often deplorable conditions the camp’s residents live with on a daily basis.

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South Sudan Could Repeat Rwanda’s Horrors

South Sudan is “on the brink of a catastrophe” and is being warned of a repeat of the Rwandan genocide. Violence is spreading through regions of South Sudan, such as Central Equatoria, that had previously been quiet.

There is already a steady process of ethnic cleansing underway in several areas of South Sudan using starvation, gang rape and the burning of villages; everywhere we went across this country we heard villagers saying they are ready to shed blood to get their land back,” says Yasmine Sooka, the chairman of a three-member U.N. commission on human rights. “Many told us it’s already reached a point of no return.”

The U.N. Security Council was expected to vote on a resolution on November 29th imposing targeted sanctions and an arms embargo, but then Russia, China and others expressed opposition and the vote was put off. An earlier plan to send 4,000 peacekeepers for a regional protection force to join the 12,000 already in South Sudan has yet to be implemented.

“The scale of rape of women and girls perpetrated by all armed groups in South Sudan is utterly unacceptable and is frankly mind boggling” adds Ms. Sooka. She said aid workers described gang rape as so prevalent that it has become “normal.”

A report from the Council on Foreign Relations says the danger of genocide is real and proposed that the United Nations and African Union run the country for 10 to 15 years to help it rebuild.

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The Chaos in South Sudan Keeps Getting Worse

At an orphanage at the edge of Juba, South Sudan’s battered capital, there are no longer any children. The orphanage, which is run by an Austrian Non-Governmental Organization, had to move to a more secure part of town after fighting broke out nearby in July. It is now considering moving back—but only if the security lasts, a tough call in a country plagued by economic crisis and dire warnings of genocide.

The fighting in July was between the forces of Salva Kiir, the president, and Riek Machar, the former vice-president, after a peace deal broke down. Since then the city has returned to an uneasy calm, but the rest of South Sudan has not. A war that had previously been concentrated in the swampy north of the country has spread to southern areas, which had been peaceful. Worse, the fighting has provoked violence between ethnic groups.

While many other organizations are fleeing the area due to violence, the Sudan Relief Fund is committed to staying to help young victims that have no family to turn to, and nowhere else to go. The two orphanages funded by the Sudan Relief Fund, The Congregation of Christian Brothers’ Star Support Group and The Saint Bakhita Orphanage, support children in South Sudan-Yambio by providing food, health and medical services, school fees, and basic daily necessities.

With a kind donation, the Sudan Relief Fund will be able to address their important daily needs and help empower the next generation in South Sudan.

Click here to donate and support the orphans of South Sudan.

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Thousands Trapped by Fighting in South Sudan Receive Emergency Aid

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said it has distributed life-saving items to more than 6,000 vulnerable families trapped by fighting in Yei River state over the last six months.

Internally displaced people say they welcome the relief aid, but want to be allowed to safely return to their home villages. The food rations they are receiving are not enough to survive on.

UNHCR officials say more than 10,000 families were displaced from their homes in Yei County after fighting broke out between government forces and armed opposition groups aligned to former Vice President Riek Machar. Aid workers and local leaders say thousands of Yei residents have been forced to flee to neighboring Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo because of the rampant security issues insecurity.

The U.N. also said at least 100,000 Yei residents have been stranded within the town, with no means of escape.

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