Crisis in Sudan and South Sudan

Wracked by decades of conflict, Sudan recently split into two new countries, both of which face enormous challenges. The coming months will be crucial for determining whether there will be a peaceful future for the region.

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, today the peace deal is looking increasingly fragile. 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.

On-going conflicts continue to affect thousands of people in both Sudan and South Sudan:

• over 105,000 people have been fleeing fighting in Sudan’s Abyei, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states crossing into South Sudan
• 140,000 people have been forced to flee their homes due to clan disputes in Jonglei
• up to 700,000 Southerners living in Sudan may want to return to South Sudan, by April 8, the deadline for all Southerners in Sudan to either normalize their status in Sudan or leave the country.

In addition to these conflicts, high food prices and a disappointing harvest are causing extremely high levels of food insecurity and affect about 2.7 million people in South Sudan.

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

Oxfam is providing humanitarian and long-term development aid across the south.

Oxfam is responding to the current influx of vulnerable refugees who continue to arrive from Sudan to South Sudan. We are currently providing water and sanitation to over 37,000 refugees, particularily in Jamam camp, in Upper Nile state, 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.

Oxfam is providing both humanitarian and long-term development aid across the sSouth Sudan, including 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.

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 America
• Intermón Oxfam (Spain)

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