Famine and Cholera Spread as Refugees Pour Into South Sudan

The humanitarian toll of Sudan’s civil war has reached a magnitude that’s difficult to comprehend.

Stephen Nyodho is the Bishop of Malakal Diocese, a northern region of South Sudan close to Sudan’s border, where a steady flow of refugees have come seeking safety since the conflict began.

Bishop Stephen wrote to us in an urgent plea for help.

I was recently on the ground in Malakal, where I met with Bishop Stephen Nyodho to survey the conditions firsthand.

Here in the Diocese of Malakal – where more than a million refugees have crossed into South Sudan – the humanitarian need is overwhelming.

Nearly two years into Sudan’s violent conflict, more than 12 million people are displaced from their homes. The death toll is estimated between 60,000 to 150,000. More than half the population of Sudan is in need of humanitarian assistance. And now millions are at risk of dying from starvation.

The death toll continues to mount. And reports of inhumanity grow worse.

EFFECTS OF SUDAN’S CIVIL WAR

A rescue boat bearing the name “Queen of Peace” carries refugees escaping Sudan. The number of displaced has reached 12 million.

Bishop Stephen is on the frontlines of working to serve the needs of refugee families in Malakal. Every day he sees the suffering firsthand. He hears their stories and watches the struggles of people in incomprehensible need.

Since the start of the war, we have worked with his Diocese to transport displaced families from the bottlenecked border station of Renk to refugee camps in Malakal, where they can escape the fighting.

In December alone, nearly 2,500 new people arrived in Malakal every day. Imagine how many people that brings to the area in just one month.

They all need food, shelter, clean water, medical care. Some are injured. Many are severely malnourished.To make conditions worse, Malakal is now battling a deadly cholera outbreak, fueled by poor water and sanitation conditions, and by the gaping absence of health care and essential services. Cholera has now spread to seven of South Sudan’s ten states.

A deadly cholera epidemic is spreading through South Sudan fueled by “squalid conditions” at border crossings.

The warnings of these dire conditions are going out, but the world isn’t listening.

Dr. Mohammed Musoke of the humanitarian medical organization, Doctors Without Borders, described the cholera outbreak. “In Renk, people are living in horrific conditions where contaminated water sources, open defecation, and overcrowding have made it easy for disease to spread.“

On top of that, the constant flow of people arriving into this squalid environment, then swiftly moving to other parts of South Sudan, is the driving factor behind its rapid spread across the country. We saw cholera spread from Renk, to Malakal, to Bentiu, to Juba in just a matter of days.”

Amid these conditions, I saw crowds continuing to arrive daily. They are despondent. Traumatized. They’ve lost everything. They’ve seen unspeakable things. And their lives are shattered. 

Still the world largely turns its back on what’s happening here.

Reports of indiscriminate killings, house to house burnings, executions of men and boys, assaults on women and girls, and intentional starvation are some of the terrible crimes against humanity happening in this war.

One young woman who escaped recounted the horror of seeing her home burned and all the men shot. “Seven people were killed in front of me,” she said. “They rounded up all the women. They told us not to cry. They said if we cried, they would kill us. And when they killed the men, they told us to leave, and we ran. We just ran.”

Children who arrive in Malakal are severely malnourished, but little humanitarian aid has come to this area.

Another young woman, Gizma Abraim, described how she lost her father as they made their way to South Sudan, when fighters with the paramilitary RSF forces apprehended and robbed them. “We came from Kordofan. We ran into RSF on the way. They took everything from us. And we came here without anything. My father was killed on the way. ”Gizma said quietly that she still has family left in Sudan. Sadly, she can’t talk to them to learn how they are, because there are no communication networks working.

Hearing these stories is utterly heartbreaking. But the violence isn’t the only source of suffering. The level of food insecurity in Malakal is severe and puts thousands of families at risk.

Striving to help thousands upon thousands, with more vulnerable families coming continually, has exhausted the resources in the Malakal Diocese. South Sudan was struggling with a severe food shortage before a million new people came to the country. Malakal cannot provide for the staggering number of refugee families without assistance.

Too young to bear this load. Children are the collateral damage in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Bishop Stephen expressed how he was reaching out to Sudan Relief Fund and our faithful supporters for help in this immense crisis.

“When my country became too dangerous for them, many NGOs left. Even in our darkest hours, Sudan Relief Fund has stayed to support my people. But the needs far outweigh our abilities and resources…My Diocese simply cannot save all these people alone.”

“Lent is a season of profound reflection for me,” Bishop Stephen continued. “As I contemplate the suffering of my people, I am continually moved by the promise of God’s grace. Your generosity ensures that when families step off these crowded ferries in Malakal, they are met with the love and mercy of Christ.”

Survivors of Sudan’s brutal civil war have been completely devastated in body and spirit. They have nothing left. And they ask for only the most basic sustenance. If you are in a position to help, I ask you to reach out with a gift to the people of Malakal, who are struggling unimaginably. Any amount you share will make an incredible difference to suffering people.

Your gift means the difference between parents having food for their children, or watching their little ones inch closer to starvation. Your gift means medicine for the sick before it’s too late – or deaths that could have been prevented, if only the world would stop to look and help. I ask you to please remember those the world has forgotten. On behalf of the people I’ve seen bearing a world of tragedy in their weary eyes, I sincerely thank you.

Sincerely,

Matt Smith Senior Vice President