ReliefWeb

HIGHLIGHTS

• Sudanese refugee leaders visit their home villages for the first time in a decade.

• Above-average rains from August to October have lifted prospects for the 2017 cereal harvest, reports FEWS NET.

• AWD cases declining with only 50 new cases and one related death reported between 29 October and 4 November.

• Aid organisations assist some 163,000 vulnerable people in the Abyei Area.

• EU donates €106 million (about US$ 123 million) for humanitarian and development aid in Sudan.

FIGURES 2017

# people in need in Sudan (2017 HNO): 4.8 million

# people in need in Darfur (2017 HNO): 3 million

GAM caseload (2017 HNO): 2.2 million

South Sudanese refugees Since 15 Dec 2013 (registered by UNHCR) - as of 15 Oct 2017: 454,660

Other refugees and asylum seekers (registered by UNHCR) - as of 30 June 2017: 167,784

FUNDING

316.1 million
US$ received in 2017

39.3% funded
(FTS, as of 5 Nov 2017)

Sudanese refugee leaders from Chad visit Darfur to assess return prospects

Twenty-five Sudanese refugee leaders are visiting their home villages for the first time in a decade on go-and-see visits organised by UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and government counterparts in Chad and Sudan.

The visits follow the signing of a tri-partite agreement in May 2017 between UNHCR and the Governments of Sudan and Chad outlining key considerations for return. There is an agreement by the three parties that return should be voluntary and that refugees have the right to return to their areas of origin in safety and with dignity.

UNHCR in Sudan and Chad will continue to have a dialogue with Sudanese refugees and local states in Darfur, in coordination with Sudan’s Commission for Refugees (COR), to help design support for refugees interested in returning. For return to be sustainable, a secure environment with minimum basic services needs to be in place.

Shelter, basic services, and security are among the key issues the refugee representatives have raised concerns about. UNHCR and partners have already begun providing shelter and basic services in areas where refugees have returned spontaneously. UNHCR estimates that 30,000 refugees may have returned permanently on their own since 2015 from Chad to Darfur. However, some only come back temporarily for seasonal farming due to remaining tensions in some home areas.

Darfur has witnessed some spontaneous returns in the last five years, mainly due to the improvement in security in some areas, with the signing of peace agreements, as well as the efforts of a peacekeeping mission led by the United NationsAfrican Union hybrid force (UNAMID).

In Chad, Sudanese refugees face dwindling humanitarian support, with cuts to food rations and limited livelihood opportunities and access to land, according to the refugees on the go-and-visit. There are also concerns about the language of instruction for their children’s education. Over 300,000 Sudanese refugees remain in Chad, according to UNHCR.