EAST AFRICA AND THE HORN
Sudan
Early in 1996, food insecurity prevails in southern Sudan. An Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) rapid assessment team that recently returned from Eastern Equatoria reports that approximately 75,500 people in the Narus area are in immediate need of food aid. Populations in this area have suffered from localized drought and loss of livestock resources through raiding. The World Food Program plans to provide a half ration of cereals to these populations through April, when their food needs will be reassessed.
The Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Association and nongovernmental organizations report that about 12,750 displaced people in camps in Mundri County face serious food shortages. These people, who originally came from the Mundri, Juba, and Bor areas, did not grow many crops last season, due to civil insecurity and limited access to agricultural inputs. Further worsening the situation is the recent pullout of nongovernmental relief organizations due to problems with local authorities. The impact of these developments is both negative and positive: These displaced persons, who have been completely reliant on relief, face immediate hardship; however, local officials report that some of them are leaving the camps to return to their home areas in search of assistance from relatives. In the long run, displaced persons who return to their places of origin will likely have a better chance of becoming self-reliant, provided that civil security prevails and they have the resources they need to make it through the dry season to harvest.
German AgroAction and Norwegian People's Aid report that increasing numbers of people are returning to Bor County from displacement in Bahr el Ghazal and Upper Nile. They are returning to Bor in the hope of reestablishing their agropastoral way of life. The presence of these returnees is putting pressure on existing communities because they are arriving with little food and are trying to subsist in areas already heavily utilized by past returnees. Norwegian People's Aid has programmed relief resources for 30,000 returnees; however, recent assessments indicate that over 57,000 are in need of immediate relief.
An OLS rapid assessment team recently investigated reports of famine death within the Waat area of Upper Nile. Although the team found no indications of starvation, it did identify the area as a priority for relief intervention because of limited food stocks and poor health conditions. The area's population of 30,000 was unable to produce sufficient quantities of sorghum in 1995 because of civil insecurity and flooding during critical planting and germination periods. The affected population is surviving on "hunger foods," and traditional chiefs in the area are convening "hunger courts" to enforce equitable distribution of milking cows among families. The OLS team recommended immediate distribution of fishing equipment and a quarter ration of relief food. A few nongovernmental organizations have expressed intentions to move into the area to manage relief activities.
Ongoing civil insecurity in Gogrial County continues to force people to flee south toward Thiet, Warrap, and Akop. Crops and stores have been looted and burned, cattle stolen, and men forcibly recruited into the militia. Civil insecurity has prevented comprehensive assessments, and until OLS is able to assess the numbers of people affected, relief intervention strategies will not be fully implemented.
The Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Association has expressed concern over the plight of the Bongo people, living approximately 45 km west of Thiet. Their traditional way of life, which relied heavily on exchange with neighboring Dinkas, has been disrupted by Dinka movements away from the region. Employment opportunities, markets, and health care are becoming scarce, and increased isolation has increased the Bongo people's vulnerability to hunger and disease. Field assessments are needed to estimate the extent of the problem so that relief strategies can be implemented.