Fresh fighting over past month forces 3,000 to flee Sudan's Nuba Mountains
Refugees, mainly from Um Dorrein, Heiban and Delami counties, also cited the lack of livelihood opportunities and education in their home areas as reasons for leaving.
GENEVA, January 30 (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency on Friday reported that fresh fighting in Sudan's Nuba Mountains has led to an increase in the number of people fleeing to South Sudan in the past month.
UNHCR field staff said that more than 3,000 Sudan citizens from South Kordofan and Blue Nile states have arrived since December 23 at the border town of Yida, a spontaneous settlement in South Sudan's Unity state already sheltering some 80,000 Sudanese refugees.
"With arrival rates exceeding 500 people per week, this represents an increase of more than 100 per cent compared to the same period of 2013," UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told journalists in Geneva.
Refugees, mainly from Um Dorrein, Heiban and Delami counties, told UNHCR that they had escaped conflict and widespread violence in the Nuba Mountains region, including air and ground attacks. Refugees have also cited the lack of livelihood opportunities and education in their areas of origin as reasons for leaving.
"The majority arrived in trucks while others came on foot," Spindler said. "Nearly 70 per cent of new arrivals are children, and an estimated 10 per cent suffer from malnutrition and measles. Refugees reported that many more Sudanese are on their way to South Sudan, but we are not in a position to confirm this information," he added.
At the transit centre in Yida, UNHCR and its partners provide assistance to the new arrivals, including hot meals. Refugees are medically screened and receive a measles vaccination upon arrival. UNHCR undertakes biometric registration of new arrivals to ensure that refugees can be identified quickly and are able to access assistance.
To date, more than 80 per cent of new arrivals have been transported from Yida to Ajuong Thok, a camp established in March 2013 to ease overcrowding in the Yida settlement. The remaining 20 per cent have decided to settle in Yida as they have family in the settlement. In Ajuong Thok, all refugees undergo further medical screening and all children under 15 years old are vaccinated against measles.
With 18,000 Sudanese refugees living in Ajuong Thok, the camp has almost reached its full capacity of 25,000 people and UNHCR is concerned that current funding may be inadequate to meet the needs of additional refugees.
Spindler said UNHCR was working with the government of South Sudan to identify a site to set up a new camp in Unity state in preparation for any more arrivals. South Sudan hosts nearly 250,000 refugees, mostly from Sudan, and more than 1.8 million internally displaced people.
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Large-scale airlift begins for Sudanese refugees in South Sudan
20 Dec 2011 ... ... Efforts are underway to ensure water supply, medical support and that the site is free of mines. In Unity state, some 22,000 refugees from the Nuba mountains of Southern Kordofan state have fled to ...... -
Abducted mum finally finds safety in Finland, but yearns to see children again
22 Jan 2020 ... ... Just a mile up the road is a Lutheran Church where Father Stephanos, a refugee from the Nuba mountains in Sudan, leads a service. Every Sunday, Nakout attends, sings and sways with the congregation ...... -
Ger Duany: I was a child soldier
22 Jun 2015 ... ... Then an attack in 1992 wiped out nearly everyone in our camp. The enemy had surrounded us. We fled towards the Nile. Many unaccustomed soldiers from Nuba Mountains drowned; the Nile can be ...... -
Massive airlift launched to aid Sudanese refugees in South Sudan
20 Dec 2011 ... ... Efforts are under way to ensure water supply, medical support and that the site is free of mines. In Unity state, some 22,000 refugees from the Nuba Mountains of Southern Kordofan state have fled to ...... -
International case law relating to statelessness
14 Sep 2010 ... ... Read the judgement in full-text in English in Refworld. AFRICAN COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON THE RIGHTS AND WELFARE OF THE CHILD Case of the Nubian Children v. Kenya, Series C No.130, 8 September 2005 Read ...... -
UNHCR Global Report 2006 - Kenya
1 Jun 2007 ... ... Uganda 500 500 42 46 DRC 400 400 32 41 Rwanda 100 100 46 44 Sudan 100 100 42 47 Various 300 300 40 19 Stateless Nubians 100,000 - - - Total 390,900 290,900 Education: Although the average ...... -
Statement by António Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Third Committee of the General Assembly, 66th Session
1 Nov 2011 ... ... of several tens of thousands of people, including new flows of 28,500 who sought refuge in Ethiopia from Blue Nile and some 19,000 who fled the Nuba Mountains to South Sudan, just in the last months. ...... -
No. 33: Refugee Status, Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality, and Statelessness within the Context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. Hélène Lambert, October 2014
Oct 2014 ... ... decision is Nubian Children v Kenya (2011), delivered by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. 139 The case concerned the situation of Kenyan Nubians who, despite ...... -
UNHCR Country Operations Plan 2006 - Lebanon
1 Sep 2005 ... ... The second largest refugee caseload is Sudanese who are mostly of minority ethnic groups such as Dinka, Nuba and Fur. Reasons of flight among Sudanese refugees are for fear of political, religious and ......