SUDAN: Durable solutions elusive as southern IDPs return and ...

Note that while the 2010 Work Plan figures for the 10 southern states add up to about 390,000
people, the 2010 Work Plan states elsewhere that:
"Conditions in Southern Sudan deteriorated alarmingly in 2009, with 2,500 people killed and more
than 350,000 displaced as a result of violence" (Work Plan, p.1).
Note that at present there is no mechanism for de-registering IDPs who return to their
communities thus making it imposible to determine actual, as apposed to cumulative, displaced
figures. Therefore it is not clear how many of these 350,000 - 390,000 people had been able to
return to their homes by the end of 2009. According to OCHA, out of 391,400 displaced by the
end of 2009, an estimated 231,000 people remained displaced within Southern Sudan at the end
of the year. Based on these figures the number of people that have been able to return by the
end of 2009 is 160,400 ((UN OCHA, 17 February 2010).
Finally, it is worth noting that these figures refer to people who were newly displaced in 2009. It is
not clear how many IDPs there are in Southern Sudan who were already displaced before the
start of 2009 and who were still unable to return to their homes in 2009. For example, it is
estimated that in 2008 a total of 187,000 people were newly displaced in Southern Sudan; it is not
clear how many of these people continued to be displaced in 2009.
OCHA's "Humanitarian Action in Southern Sudan Bulletin" (December 2009) states:
One thousand newly displaced per day
The nature and magnitude of inter-tribal attacks remarkably increased in 2009. The Southern
Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (SSRRC) in conjunction with the humanitarian
community recorded more than 350,000 people displaced and 2,500 people killed by conflict from
January to December. Over 80 percent were displaced by inter-tribal and related clashes. The
other 20 percent were displaced by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, mainly in Western
Equatoria State and to a lesser extent, Central Equatoria State. In addition, about 20,000
refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Central Africa Republic (CAR)
entered Southern Sudan escaping the LRA brutality. The number of people displaced in Southern
Sudan in 2009 is almost double that of 2008 when 187,000 were displaced because of conflict.
Displacement continues into 2010. Some 60,000 persons have been displaced as a result of
inter-communual violence during the first four months of 2010, bringing the total number of newly
displaced people since January 2009 up to mid May 2010 to 450,000 (WFP, April 2010; IRIN, 23
April 2010).
With elections in April 2010, the referendum scheduled for the beginning of 2011, and worsening
insecurity, the consensus among humanitarian actors is that 2010 will see worsening
humanitarian situation and high levels of displacement (see, for instance, Rescuing the Peace in
Southern Sudan, NGO coalition, 2010; Work Plan for Sudan, UN and partners,11 December
2009; Mitigating a humanitarian disaster, NRC, March 2010) .
IDPs Displaced by LRA Attacks
Most of the IDPs in the states of Central Equatoria and Western Equatoria have been displaced
as a result of attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). These states also host refugees from
the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic who have fled from LRA
attacks in their own countries.
38