Weekly Humanitarian Bulletin 9 - 15 January 2012

Key Points

· Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) continues to affect civilians in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

· Since June 2011, more than 78,000 Sudanese refugees from South Kordofan and Blue Nile have fled across the border into South Sudan, and 35,000 have people have fled from Blue Nile to Ethiopia, according to humanitarian partners in South Sudan and Ethiopia.

· People displaced from the Abyei area continue to conduct daytime visits to areas north of the Bahr el Arab/Kiir River, with no permanent large-scale returns reported.

· Approximately 362,000 people have returned to South Sudan from Sudan since October 2010. Almost 110,000 people of South Sudanese origin who wish to voluntarily return to South Sudan have been registered in and around Khartoum.

· Food security is reported to have deteriorated in North Darfur due to poor harvest and price hikes. The new Darfur Regional Authority has stated that it will prioritise development projects that encourage the return of internally displaced people and refugees.