Attachments
CONTEXT
This factsheet presents the key findings of a REACH assessment conducted in Mingkaman, Awerial County in March 2014 in order to gather more information about the displacement patterns and intentions of internally displaced persons (IDPs), as well as their interaction with their host communities, with regard to potential return to their place of origin, against the backdrop of the upcoming rainy season.
In mid-December 2013, IDPs began to cross the Nile River from Jonglei State to escape violence and a breakdown in security. Over the following three months, thousands of people continued to arrive, resulting in an estimated 85,000 IDPs in the Mingkaman area by mid-March1 . In late February, there was an increase in new arrivals related to fighting in Twic East County in Jonglei, but as of March 10, the number of people arriving daily has dropped significantly.
Humanitarian actors have been operating in the Mingkaman area since December 2013 with limited knowledge of the intentions of the IDPs present. The rainy season will soon start (usually lasting from April to August or September) in the Mingkaman area triggering the planting of crops by local community. As the population in the Mingkaman area swells, tensions are rising between newly arrived IDPs and host community members who want to begin cultivating their land. The rainy season will also affect the IDPs as their temporary shelters are highly vulnerable to flooding and many may want to return to their area of origin for planting season.
In addition to understanding whether and why IDPs may want to return, there is also a lack of information related to displacement patterns: more specifically about the time of arrival and routes taken by IDPs to reach Mingkaman area.