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On April 15, 2023 war is starting again in Sudan. It leads more than 10 million people on the roads. Among them almost 752 000 people are heading for South Sudan which has been independent of its northern neighbour since 2011. Far from being a haven of peace South Sudan is, too, plagued by conflicts and severely affected by climate change. In 2023 it ranked last at the United Nations ‘index of human development, which shows how difficult it is for the South Sudanese to get to food, to water, to a roof as well as to essential substructures.
Among those who are crossing the border, a great part, more than 585 000 are South Sudanese. So they are going back to the country they left some years ago because of the war. This time war has changed side and so have they as a consequence.
To understand what the journey of a person who is fleeing from Sudan to South Sudan looks like, discover the complexities of such a tiring journey.
South Sudan
Context and action- 11.1 million inhabitants
- 191th out of 191 countries on the Human Development Index
- 165,222 people assisted
Km 460 : Renk : arriving in South Sudan
Photo : © SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL
From Khartoum, those who flee from Sudan sometimes move down along the Nile. 83% of them head for Joda, the border post marking the passage to South Sudan.
After Joda Renk is the place where a part of the displaced people temporarily moves in. One of these transit centres, which has been put up in the former premises of the university, welcomes about 7 000 people. Their sheltering conditions are precarious: the luckiest people occupy the worn tents set up when the crisis began whereas the others must build shelters with materials found here and there. Within these places light is scarce, ventilation is unsuitable for the temperatures and lack of privacy is unavoidable.
Maintaining the places to reduce the contagious impact
Photo : © SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL
In the transit centre SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL built latrines and provides the maintaining of the place by collecting the waste and cleaning the sanitary facilities as well as by taking on members from the community.
That is essential to reduce the transmission of water diseases. Indeed, the epidemic risk, particularly that of cholera, is considerably increased by the rainy season which makes the ground impassable because there is mud everywhere and by the difficult draining of water.
New places but still not enough room
Photo : © SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL
In Renk there is indeed this new transit site which welcomes nearly 9 000 people. There the shelters are more spacious and airier, and they can take in six to eight families.
In the daytime, as they do there, the displaced people leave the site to look for means of subsistence, so the place empties but at nightfall it is saturated.
Among other people, Alban, his wife and his children live in this transit centre. These Central African refugees had lived in Sudan for ten years before fleeing from the war for the second time. Their journey is an endless journey. From Khartoum they firstly sought refuge in Port Sudan in vain. They finally took a bus near the Sudanese border, at Kosti, for thirty or so euros. Now in Renk the family hopes to reach Juba, the capital city of South Sudan.
Getting to water
Photo : © SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL
The water-treatment plant put in by SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL supplies 270 cubic metres of drinking water every day. It is enough to meet the 18 000 people’s vital needs fixed to 15 liters per day and per person in accordance with humanitarian standards. It is ten times less than a French person’s average consumption.
Even at their minimum, these standards remain hard to achieve in a period of crisis.
A short-lived pause
Photo : © SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL
For lots of these people Renk is only a stop. Plane or barge transports to farther final destinations are facilitated by the South Sudanese State who wants to avoid camps from developing at its border.
Those who queue up to register and board barges are numerous but in a blazing sun when temperatures can go up to 45°C, waiting soon seems endless. So they indicate their places in the queue by putting stones wrapped in distinctive bags down on the ground.
Among them there is a couple who left South Sudan seven years ago. Three months ago they had to go back there because of the war. Then they walked up to the South Sudanese border from where they were driven to Renk by car. Their journey took them two weeks. For lack of finding somewhere to stay in Renk they are now considering leaving the place to go to Aweil, in the west of the country, without knowing about what they will find there.
Looking for better conditions by embarking on the Nile
Photo : © SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL
On the crammed barges boarded by hundreds of displaced people there are no sanitary facilities. During the two days’ journey, these people will have to make with two one-hour-and-a-half stops : first in Melut then in Kodok to be provided with minimum fresh supplies since they were only given biscuits when they left Renk.
So, first at the departure from Renk as well as in Kodok, SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL built latrines in order to provide the displaced people with minimum dignified conditions and to avoid tensions with the host communities.
Km 730 : in Kodok fishing and planting to stay alive
Photo : © SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL
In this town of Upper Nile State a camp already shelters almost 10 000 people whose majority arrived more than one year ago after the village of Aburoc was attacked.
In addition to their activities focused on water and hygiene, SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL distributed fishing kits and canoes : some fishermen had had to leave theirs behind when they fled. Making a good catch allows them to cover their daily expenses all in all.
Garden kits were also distributed to the displaced people so that they can live. The kits include seeds and basic tools for gardening. Onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, eggplants and other local vegetables are grown on the plots of land in the area around the camp thus providing minimal nutritious diversity.
Km 800 : Malakal, a transit hub
Photo : © SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL
If the displaced people carry on their way, they stop at Malakal after Kodok. Around 4 000 of them are given shelter in the transit centre of Bulukat. There again no ventilation, no light and families being separated is hard to live.
To provide clean environment to these people, SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL daily finances the work of 76 members of the community who clean the latrines, collect the garbage and promote the right hygiene practice.
Leaving one’s life behind oneself
Photo : © SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL
In Malakal the displaced people can keep going on their way on barges or fly to farther destinations. Only 20 kilos of luggage are allowed on board, which is not much when it comes to pack your whole life. Consequently, what cannot fit into suitcases is left behind.
The host communities’ residience
Photo : © SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL
South to Malakal, on the host communities’territories, SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL and some partners work towards strengthening people’s resilience to climate change and to the conflict, which is fundamental for everybody. Thanks to that, hosts and displaced people are assured of desirable future prospects.
In this way local farmers take part in training courses to adapt their practice to climate change.
Unity, a state in water
Photo : © Bebe Joel Hillary / SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL
The State of Unity is a possible destination from Malakal or directly from another crossing point at the border. This state has been flooded by the Nile floods for two years. There the river has never returned to its usual level.
On both side of the road to Rotriak there is water as far as the eye can see. In the dry season this road is practicable but as soon as the rainy season starts, it takes hours to reach Rotriak.
So, to collect the fruits of fishing, basic means are resorted to: for instance young boys have filled bags with empty plastic bottles to build a tub.
Km 1010 : Rotriak, a place to set up in where others have already settled
Photo : © SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL
Rotriak camp welcomes more than 60 000 people, most of whom having been displaced because of the war in Sudan or because of flooding. There two water supply points and emergency sanitary facilities have been put in by SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL. At the water supply point you can meet women like Marry, a South-Sudanese lady who used to live in Khartoum, who had to flee in a rush with eight members of her family. They travelled in a truck for 17 endless days. In such conditions, she could not take her mother with her and her mother has died since. Unfortunately, as long as the crisis goes on, Marry will have to stay there.