Southern Sudanese returnees 2011
Preparation time: 4 months
Photos from May until July 2011 (2 months)
Travelling along with Oliver Seidl
Places: Khartoum, Kosti, Juba, Torrit, Ikotos
During two periods of war in the southern part of Sudan many people have fled alone or with their families in order to escape the violence. Some of them fled to neighbouring countries like Uganda, Kenya and Eritrea, others went to the northern cities of Sudan, like Khartoum or Port Sudan.
As South Sudan became an independent country on the 9th of July 2011, NGOs estimate that three out of for million displaced Southern Sudanese will return to their places of origin.
The logistical challenge is huge. From the one million Southern Sudanese in Khartoum, many have already settled in the South but more families will follow.
Until July 2011 the international community financed a way station in Kosti, northern Sudan, close to the border to South Sudan. Governmental organisations from Sudan and South Sudan, together with UNHCR, FAR, ADRA, UNICEF, IOM and other NGOs, registered Southern Sudanese and organised transportation on the Nile to Juba.
Due to the mass of returnees arriving in Kosti and the lack of the governmental organisations to collaborate efficiently, many returnees stranded in Kosti for more than a month until they were able to get on a barge heading towards Juba.
The journey on the barges takes about two weeks and is lacking any human conditions. Even though NGOs are trying to fill the gap by installing water systems and sending two doctors on board, the barges offer no shelter for the heavy rain during the rain season. They are totally overcrowded. Many people suffer from Malaria and women have stillbirths. Two "toilets" serve for 800 people. As everything is getting wet, people have to sleep in sitting position.
Even as we got the permissions by all governmental organisations and NGOs involved, my colleague and I were denied by representatives of the Southern Sudanese government to enter the barges as they left.
From Juba the IOM (International Organisation for Migration) organises further transportation in a more human and organised way than governmental organisations do. The IOM and UNHCR built up a way station in Juba where the returnees can recover from the exhausting journey on the Nile. After a couple of days further transportation is provided by special busses or sometimes commercial flights.
For this story I accompanied a convoy to Ikotos, a city close to the Uganda border. With busses and heavy loaded trucks, the trip from Juba to Ikotos took two days.
In Ikotos each household is given one plot of land where they can build grass huts and do agriculture. When the first harvest is brought in, they have to pay for their plot.
The integration of the returnees is a challenge for local community leaders. Ikotos seems to be prepared as the county commissioner has restructured the village in order to avoid an exclusion of the new settlers: The market is relocated and a NGO installed public water pipes in the new district.
Returnees are provided with food by the WFP for the first three months. But until the first harvest is ready to bring in, it usually takes half a year. As most of the returnees have spent all their money on building grass huts, they're not able to buy food in the market. For around three months they totally depend on their relatives and the community. Some start pulling out small plants to get at least sth. to eat. But this only means they're not going to have enough food in the next year.
Even though, many returnees were stating that they rather want to live poor and free than rich but oppressed.