RENK, South Sudan: A new truck arrives in the South Sudanese town of Renk, packed with dozens of elderly men, women and children, their exhausted faces betraying the strain of their traumatic journey out of war-ravaged Sudan.
They are among more than half a million people who have crossed the border into South Sudan, which is struggling to accommodate the new arrivals.
Renk is just 10 kilometers (six miles) from Sudan, where fighting broke out in April last year between army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Since then, Renk’s two UN-run transit centers have been overwhelmed by an uninterrupted influx of frightened people, fleeing for their lives.
The journey is rife with danger, said Fatima Mohammed, a 33-year-old teacher who escaped with her husband and five children from El-Obeid city in central Sudan.
“The bullets were entering our house. We were trapped between crossfire in our own street. So we understood that we needed to leave for the good of our kids,” she said, describing the situation in Sudan as “unsustainable.”
It took them five days to make their escape, with Sudanese soldiers and RSF fighters “making (it) difficult for us to leave the country.”
“They took all our phones at one checkpoint, a lot of our money (at) another one. We saw abuses happening at those checkpoints,” she said.
Since the start of the conflict, nearly eight million people, half of them children, have fled Sudan.
Around 560,000 of them have taken refuge in South Sudan, according to the United Nations, which estimates that around 1,500 new arrivals turn up in the country every day.
Many spend months waiting in the transit camps, hopeful that someday soon they will be able to return home.
Iman David fled fighting in Sudan’s capital Khartoum with her then three-month-old daughter, leaving her husband behind.
“It was supposed to be a short stay, but I am still stuck here in Renk after seven months,” the 20-year-old said.
“My hope is to go back to Khartoum and reunite with my husband but I don’t know his fate.”
The war has claimed the lives of thousands of civilians, according to UN figures.
Around 25 million people, more than half of Sudan’s population, need humanitarian assistance, while around 3.8 million children under the age of five are suffering from malnutrition, the UN says.
While many in Renk long to return home, others hope to travel onwards to the town of Malakal in Upper Nile state, which is also hosting a huge number of refugees.
At Renk port, hundreds of people lined up under the oppressive glare of the midday sun, waiting hours to hop aboard the metal boats which make the trip at least twice a week.
As she waited, Lina Juna, a 27-year-old mother of four, said her final destination was the South Sudanese capital Juba.
“I have nothing to do in Juba, no family members or friends, no business or work to take care of because I have spent all my life in Sudan,” she said.
“But I still expect Juba to be much better than Khartoum,” she added, recalling days spent struggling to find food as heavy fighting rocked the city.
Several hours later, she managed to board a boat, one of two carrying some 300 people each.
“Today is a good day for us,” said Deng Samson, who works for the International Organization for Migration.
“Some weeks we have seen ourselves completely overwhelmed,” he said, adding that the approaching monsoon made him nervous.
“We are truly afraid of what will happen when the rainy season comes, with waters rising from the river and disrupting the normal functioning of the port.”
With up to 10 trucks and buses turning up in Renk every day, the UN is trying to mobilize the international community, launching an appeal for $4.1 billion this month to respond to the most urgent humanitarian needs.
Sudanese refugees face gruelling wait in overcrowded South Sudan camps
https://arab.news/wfnhn
Sudanese refugees face gruelling wait in overcrowded South Sudan camps
- Renk is just 10 kilometers from Sudan, where fighting broke out in April last year
- Renk’s two UN-run transit centers have been overwhelmed by an uninterrupted influx of frightened people
STC announces dissolution
The Yemeni separatist group Southern Transitional Council (STC) has announced it will dissolve following talks in Saudi Arabia. Several STC members are in Riyadh for discussions on ending unrest in southern Yemen. The group praised Saudi Arabia’s efforts, while former STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi, now wanted by the Presidential Council for high treason, has fled Yemen and has not participated in the talks.
A Yemeni source told Arab News: “this announcement and ease shown in the televised video statement shows that in fact Al Zubaidi was the obstacle, and that most southerners are open to resolving their matter via dialogue and discussion”
The members of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Yemen spoke during the Riyadh Southern Dialogue Conference on Friday.
During the meeting, the Council said military operations in Hadramout and Mahra harmed the Southern cause in Yemen.
The Council said they did not participate in the decision for the military operations in Hadramout and Mahra.
"We hope to reach a vision and concept for resolving the Southern issue at the Riyadh Conference,” said the Council.
The Council thanked Saudi Arabia for hosting the dialogue conference in Riyadh.
- Below is a full translation of the STC announcement as reported by the Arabic language Yemeni news agency (SABA):
Announcement of the Dissolution of the Southern Transitional Council
The Presidency of the Southern Transitional Council, the Supreme Executive Leadership, the General Secretariat, and the other affiliated bodies convened a meeting to assess the recent unfortunate events in the governorates of Hadramout and Al-Mahrah, and the subsequent rejection of all efforts toward de-escalation and resolution. These developments have led to serious and painful consequences. Referring to the statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regarding its sponsorship of a southern dialogue to resolve the southern issue—and in order to safeguard the future of the southern cause and the right of the southern people to restore their state according to their will and aspirations, and to preserve peace and social security in the South and the broader region—we make the following declaration:
The Southern Transitional Council was established to carry the cause of the southern people, represent them, and lead them toward achieving their aspirations and restoring their state. We founded it with the belief that the goal was to achieve this mission—not to cling to it as a means of gaining power, monopolizing decision-making, or excluding others.
Since we were not involved in the decision to launch the military operation in Hadramout and Al-Mahrah—an operation that harmed southern unity and damaged relations with the coalition led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has made and continues to make great sacrifices and provide ongoing political, economic, and military support—the continued existence of the Council no longer serves the purpose for which it was created. In light of this and our historical responsibility toward the southern cause, we hereby announce the dissolution of the Southern Transitional Council, the disbanding of all its main and subsidiary bodies, and the closure of all its offices inside and outside the country. We will instead work to achieve our just southern goal by preparing for and participating in the comprehensive southern conference under the Kingdom’s sponsorship.
We commend the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its clear and explicit commitments and the sincere concern it has shown for our cause in seeking solutions that meet the aspirations and will of the southern people.
We call on all active southern figures and leaders to engage in the path of the comprehensive southern dialogue conference, hoping that the participants will reach a vision and framework to resolve the southern issue and fulfill the people’s aspirations through their free will, and to establish an inclusive southern framework.
From this platform, we call on the people of the South, our colleagues in the capital Aden, and all the governorates of our beloved South to recognize the gravity of this moment, the sensitivity of the current phase, and the importance of uniting efforts to preserve our gains and protect the South from chaos or instability.
We reaffirm our continued commitment to serving the just and legitimate cause of the southern people and achieving their aspirations according to their will. We also extend our gratitude to the leadership and people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for hosting the comprehensive southern dialogue conference and for their support of the South, its cause, and its people across all fields and stages.
