Crisis in Sudan and South Sudan

On-going conflicts continue to affect thousands of people in both Sudan and South Sudan. Half of South Sudan's 9.7 million people do not have enough to eat. The price of food and fuel has reached unprecedented levels, and refugees continue to flee fighting on the border with Sudan.

We are responding to the current influx of vulnerable refugees who continue to arrive from Sudan to South Sudan. In addition to emergency relief, we're providing long-term development aid across the south.

As of December, the rains are ending so more refugees are expected. We're planning to support up to 30,000 additional arrivals.

Please donate to support our emergency response in Sudan and South Sudan

The situation

The north-south war – which left an estimated 2 million people dead and 4 million homeless – was brought to an end with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in January 2005.

However, more than one year since independence, the crisis in South Sudan is the worst it's been since the end of the war in 2005.

South Sudan, which became an independent state on 9 July 2011, remains one of the poorest and least developed regions of the world, and most communities still have little access to basic services.

South Sudan is increasingly reliant on emergency aid, with double the number of people in need of food aid compared to last year. The country needs urgent support to respond to the humanitarian crisis now and be able to provide enough food, water and essential services to its people over the coming years.

Since 2003, the crisis in the western state of Darfur has been one of the biggest humanitarian emergencies in the world, with over 2.5 million people forced to flee their homes. About 1.7 million displaced people still live in camps in Darfur, while there are still 298,000 Sudanese refugees in the neighbor country of Chad.

Insecurity and targeted attacks on aid workers continue to make it extremely difficult to deliver aid to all who need it, and although large-scale fighting has reduced since the conflict broke out, better protection of civilians, a cessation of hostilities and a committed peace process is needed as urgently as ever.

What Oxfam is doing

Oxfam has been present in Southern Sudan since 1983, providing humanitarian aid to victims of conflict, drought and floods, as well as long term development assistance to some of the most vulnerable Sudanese communities, both in Darfur and South Sudan. Oxfam is also one of the few international agencies working in neglected regions of Sudan, such as the eastern Red Sea State, supporting urban education and livelihoods projects and rural development.

South Sudan

We are responding to the current influx of vulnerable refugees who continue to arrive from Sudan to South Sudan. In addition to emergency relief, we're providing long-term development aid across the south.

We are currently providing water and sanitation to over 32,000 refugees, and we are building up our capacity to respond to further refugee influx, increasing numbers of returnees and up to 2.7 million people affected by food insecurity across the country.

Our emergency aid includes water, sanitation and hygiene promotion, public health, sustainable livelihoods, food security and education programs in Upper Nile, Lakes, Wau, Warrap and Western Bahr el Ghazal states.

Our focus remains in the camps of Jamam and Gendrassa, but we have begun to supply essential equipment to other agencies which have gone to support people in the border area as they cross over.

We also work through local partners and civil society organizations including women's groups in various parts of the country.

Darfur

As fighting continues to drive people from their homes in Darfur, we are providing humanitarian aid – clean water, sanitation, small business trainings and loans, and more –  to over 300,000 civilians caught in the conflict.

Oxfam and our partners are providing clean water, sanitation, and hygiene programs to nearly 250,000 people in the camps of Darfur. Our water engineers are helping maintain the wells, pumps, tanks, pipes, and taps that deliver treated water to the settlements. Our sanitation and public health staff are ensuring that camp residents have latrines, bathing areas, soap, water cans, and access to the information they need to stay healthy under challenging conditions.

Oxfam is pursuing ways to bring peace to Darfur’s conflict-affected communities. An Oxfam partner recently completed a year-long program to restore harmony among three tribes in northeastern Darfur whose relations had been badly damaged by the conflict. An estimated 80,000 people have benefited from the program, which involved helping revive the tribes’ traditional conflict-resolution system while simultaneously organizing cultural and sporting events aimed at easing tensions.

Oxfam has also supported local camp residents and partners to assemble and distribute more than 15,000 high-efficiency stoves, which can address an array of problems in Darfur. These stoves ease the heavy economic pressure on families, by reducing the cost of fuel, help to reduce the risk of assault from armed bandits and militias on women who must trek into the countryside to gather firewood, and help to protect the environment.

Donate

Please consider helping fund our humanitarian aid work in Sudan and South Sudan. These Oxfam affiliates are running direct appeals:

• Oxfam GB

You can also make a donation to the general emergency fund of your nearest national Oxfam affiliate. Your money will be used to fund our emergency work worldwide, which includes responding in countries such as Sudan, South Sudan and Chad.

Read more

Read the report: Getting it Right from the Start: Priorities for Action in the New Republic of South Sudan

View the slideshow: Rescuing the peace: Southern Sudan at the crossroads

Two years since Oxfam GB's expulsion from Northern Sudan