Humanitarian action in Southern Sudan weekly bulletin, week 41, 12 - 18 Oct 2008

SUMMARY/HIGHLIGHTS

- WFP assisted 182,500 beneficiaries with 1,700mt of food during the reporting week

- Influx of DRC refugees into Western Equatoria reducing

- Food and NFIs to be distributed to refugees and IDPs in Sakure and Gangura

I. CURRENT ISSUES

Influx of Congolese Persons Due to LRA Attacks, Western Equatoria

- UNHCR is continuing to screen Congolese seeking refugee status in Western Equatoria State. The influx of the Congolese people appears to have reduced drastically and the verification exercise being conducted by UNHCR puts the refugee population to about 3,500 to 4,000 and about 1,000 IDPs in the Sakure area.

- UNHCR and UNOCHA are working closely with other agencies to consolidate a contingency/response plan at Juba and field level.

- WFP has dispatched 40 MT of food to Yambio (sufficient for 2,500 persons for one month - to be stored in UNICEF warehouses) and WVI has begun drilling additional boreholes in the Gangura area.

- Poor road infrastructure is one of the challenges faced by the field team in accessing different locations reported to be hosting refugees. This has been worsened by heavy rainfall which has made most roads in the State impassable.

II. POPULATION MOVEMENTS AND RETURNS

Refugees, Returns and Re-integration (from OCHA EP&R, UNHCR, WFP)

- World Vision has been identified as a partner by UNHCR to distribute food to the refugee community in and around Yambio, Western Equatoria State. A tripartite (WFP, UNHCR & WVI) agreement has been initiated to strengthen the humanitarian response.

- The SSRRC gave a 10-day food ration to the refugees with anticipation that the food from Juba will be delivered on time.

- MSF-Spain continues with health service delivery in Gangura.

- WFP reported that Yambio airport is being worked on in close collaboration with local authorities.

- More response activities towards the refugees are reported under respective sectors below.

(Humanitarian Actors in this Sector are: UNHCR, UNMIS/RRR)

III. SITUATION, NEEDS AND RESPONSE BY SECTOR

Coordination and Common Services (from OCHA)

- Assessments and response continue in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State (NBeG) following fresh reports of new floods. OCHA is present in Aweil to facilitate humanitarian coordination in response to the floods.

- Quantifying the affected population has been difficult because of limited access to a number of the affected areas, which have become impassable following the recent October flooding. An inter-agency response planning meeting was held on 16 October 2008 to allocate NGOs specific responsibilities and areas to focus on.

- Weekly humanitarian coordination meetings are being held on Thursdays to review progress made on response and as part of information sharing among NGOs, UN and the Government.