Northern Sudan
- For the week ending 17 February, the ADRA-IOM team in Kosti reported tracking a total of 1,355 individuals (288 households) passing through the transit hub. Main destinations were in Upper Nile (38%), Central Equatoria (21%) and Eastern Equatoria (12%), with the remainder heading elsewhere in relatively small numbers. In addition to representing a decrease of almost 25% over the previous period, the figure remained low in comparison to numbers registered during the surge.
- For this reporting period, ADRA-IOM also tracked a total of a mere 107 individuals returned in government-organized movements, to Warrab (53), Unity (38) and Western Bahr el Ghazal (16).
- On 15 February the pusher Andaraba departed Kosti for Juba with four cargo barges carrying 109 individuals (25 households).
- As of 19 February, 5,696 individuals (1,283 households) were waiting at the wharf in Kosti for southbound transport. Children comprised nearly two-thirds of this number.
Abyei
- WFP and SRRC-HAC have completed the fourth phase of verifications, revealing a total of 37,727 returnees in government-organized movements since 22 November 2010.
- During January 2011, UNPOL conducted 55 job-training sessions to enhance the capacity of 166 JIPU officers on topics such as police responsibilities, radio operator duties, proper detainee management, human rights (including the prohibition of torture), basic arrest procedures, basic investigative techniques and crime-scene preservation.
- Three people died and 20 others were injured during the clashes that had occurred in the Abyei market on 12 February when gunfire was exchanged between inebriated and armed persons, reportedly including on-duty police officers.
Blue Nile
- On 16 February, FAO reported that it had signed an agreement with state agriculture and animal resources authorities in neighbouring Sennar for the vaccination, treatment and breeding of 17,500 head of cattle.
- UNHCR in Kurmuk continues its support to the education sector with the delivery of school materials to returnee villages.
- A range of workshops designed to enhance leadership and management skills of 132 supervisory staff from state ministries and local government that was launched on 13 February continued this week. The programme was organized by Mercy Corps/Scotland with funding from USAID.
Southern Kordofan
- A small group of 51 returnees arrived in the state from Omdurman and Khartoum during the reporting period, bringing the cumulative total since January 2005 to 400,567 individuals. Of this figure 1,195 have retuned since the beginning of the year.
- FAO and ILO have embarked on an assessment mission in Keilak (for the Harazaya Misseriya) and Kadugli (for the Harazaya Nuba) Localities. A joint communications strategy and activities have been developed, which will be discussed during the gathering of the state-level Programme Management Committee scheduled to be held shortly.
- Between 75-80 returnees who had been stranded en route in Muglad arranged their own onward transport to Northern Bahr el Ghazal.
Darfur
- On 16 February, HAC in South Darfur convened a meeting in Nyala to discuss government return programmes. In this context, HAC informed participants that a South Darfur Technical Committee on Voluntary Returns had been formed to oversee return issues, with representatives from government, UNAMID and the humanitarian community. Meanwhile, HAC has identified two areas for return sites at Taba-Fito (105 km northwest of Nyala) and Wad Hajjam (108 km south of Nyala). In response, humanitarian actors were requested to initiate assessments in these areas to determine needed assistance.
- Preparations continued for kicking-off the polio immunization campaign in North Darfur, scheduled to last from 28 February to 2 March. In support of the effort, rehabilitation of existing health facilities has been carried out to permit introduction of new vaccine being used for the first time in the Sudan.
East Sudan
- A delegation from Italian Cooperation visited Kassala and Red Sea on 13-17 February to follow up on UNICEF projects funded in the two states targeting nomads for the period 2010-2011. In Red Sea, the delegation joined government officials concerned with the sector and UNICEF staff to look at project sites in the localities of Haya, Sinkat, Durdaib, Al Ganab and Al Olaib. During a wrap-up session with the governor, UNICEF revealed that in 2010 more than SDG 900,000 had been allocated to the two sectors in the state, while this year the agency expected to spend around SDG 1.25 billion in WASH, classroom construction and rehabilitation, school latrine construction and teacher training. In Kassala, meanwhile, the delegation not only followed up on the UNICEF projects, but also visited a WFP water-harvesting project implemented in the localities of Hamesh-Koreib and Telkook to benefit 12,000 households and another in Rural Kassala Locality to construction or rehabilitate four hafirs (traditional reservoirs) to benefiting around 16,000 households.
- In collaboration with the Forest National Corporation, in Kassala FAO distributed 9,000 shade tree seedlings to households and public facilities in the locality of Rural Kassala to contribute to environmental improvement and conservation, with priority given to areas hosting IDPs and refugees.