Fritzroy A. Sterling
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 20 2006 (IPS) – The eastern areas of Sudan near the Eritrean-Ethiopian border are drought-stricken and dry during the hot months, and in recent years, a steady decline in rainfall continues to threaten basic survival efforts such as the cultivation of land and raising of livestock.
When the rains do come, some areas become muddy, mucky and swamp-like, rendering many roads impassible and cutting off outside access to the areas.
Far removed from the larger, more volatile camps in Darfur and eastern Chad are an estimated 110,000 refugees from Ethiopia and Eritrea currently living in 12 camps in eastern Sudan. While they are not as visible, humanitarian aid workers stress that the basic needs of the rarely-mentioned refugees in eastern Sudan are just as dire and urgent as those of the refugees in Darfur.
We are trying to raise awareness of the situation, not just in Darfur, but in key areas across Sudan, Trevor Rowe, a spokesperson in the New York office of the World Food Programme, told IPS.
Some of the refugees have lived in eastern Sudan for more than 40 years, since the early stages of Eritrea s fight for independence from Ethiopia in the early 1960s. Others fled the fatal famine and drought that plagued Ethiopia in 1970s and 1980s. And some were displaced by the 1998 armed conflict over land that resulted in a full-scale invasion of Eritrea by Ethiopia in 2000.
The most recent arrivals, mostly younger men and women, have skirted the dangers that lurk along the treacherous trek to the camps in order to escape mandatory military service, especially from Eritrea, where continued border conflicts with Ethiopia have resulted in increased military mobilisation.
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There have been significant numbers of new Eritrean arrivals in eastern Sudan, said Sarah Petrin, director of government relations at the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI). However, it is often difficult for humanitarian workers to gain access to them.
There are reports, according to the USCRI, that refugee and asylum officials have harassed and physically abused some refugees, extorted money from them and even imprisoned them for traveling without permits.
There were reports that the National Security Department secretly detained and tortured refugees, the USCRI report stated.
Moreover, new refugees and asylum seekers in eastern Sudan are not allowed to work, compelling them to rely on meagre provisions or limited humanitarian aid from agencies like the World Food Programme (WFP).
A few of the camps have allocated small plots to some refugee families, but there is not enough land for the majority of refugees and long periods of arid, dry weather have affected food production.
The WFP has reported significant reductions in general funding over the past several years. Other conflicts, like the one in Darfur, require WFP and other relief agencies to spread their resources among hundreds of thousands of needy refugees. In many other instances, a lack of funding has resulted in late delivery of food or a general reduction of rations.
Funding for Sudan is difficult this year, Rowe said. We haven t received enough contributions and the shortfall caused us to cut back from the full basic ration to half rations.
The reductions in funding have had other far-reaching effects. Because of dilapidated infrastructure, the camps do not have capacity to store food in the rainy season, prompting the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) operations there to prioritise the construction of storage warehouses in several camps.
In addition, there has been no distribution of non-food items in four years, and the acquired items scheduled to be distributed are insufficient, according to a June 2006 UNHCR report on Sudan operations
The WFP has reported a sharp increase in malnutrition rates in eastern Sudan, and malaria cases are expected to rise during the rainy season, which began this month. However, according to UNHCR, the available mosquito nets are not sufficient to be distributed to all needy people (children under five and pregnant women).
These people, who have already gone through so much, need more food, Rowe said. It s one thing to survive on the minimum, but it s another to survive on half of the minimum.
WFP suspended its food assistance in east Sudan, including for refugees, during the month of May, due to the unsolved travel permit issue and lack of access to the camps, according to the UNHCR report.
We need to address security issues that restrict U.N. access to refugees, said Petrin. Restricted access will interfere with much-needed humanitarian efforts in eastern Sudan. As with the other refugee areas in Sudan, security is also a primary concern in eastern Sudan.
In recent months, sporadic flare-ups of violence have threatened ground security and the operations of the various humanitarian organisations in the area.
