NAIROBI: IOM Delivers Aid to Sudanese Displaced by Abyei Crisis

Fri, May 27, 2011 12:21:22 PM

IOM Delivers Aid to Sudanese Displaced by Abyei Crisis - IOM is delivering emergency aid to thousands of people who have fled the conflict in the disputed Abyei region between north and south Sudan .

As the security situation in the area continues to be volatile, IOM, is providing trucks, essential non-food relief items, fuel and medicines to support humanitarian operations.

Reports suggest that tens of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) have poured into Southern Sudan’s Warrap, Unity and Northern Bahr El Ghazal states. Many are in need of food and water and, with the recent heavy rains, may be vulnerable to water-borne diseases and respiratory tract infections.

IOM has registered four truckloads of IDPs who arrived in Turalei in Warrap State on May 25^th. A further 1,000 IDPs arrived yesterday, May 26^th , in Wunrok, south of Turalei and have been met by an IOM team.

IOM, which has registered some 6,500 IDPs in the past two days, has also provided transport for 138 IDPs who were walking towards Gogrial West, south west of Wunrok.

An IOM mobile clinic has been put on standby in Wau to provide help if requested by other humanitarian organisations in the area. IOM has also made available from its Rapid Response Fund, a sum of 1 m USD to local and International NGOs working in emergency relief of the Abyei crisis.

IOM is also distributing 1,000 kits containing non-food relief items, including plastic sheeting, jerry cans, mosquito nets, soap, blankets, sleeping mats and cooking utensils in Mayen Abun, and Turalei in Warrap State . It is also helping to construct emergency latrines.

Tracking and assessing the displaced population has been difficult because many people are still on the move or are hiding in the bush.  The continued heavy rainfall has made some roads impassable and this has impeded access to areas where IDPs may be sheltering.

IOM is therefore setting up tracking hubs in order to monitor the movements of the IDPs, collect demographic information and identify vulnerable cases including unaccompanied minors and children separated from their parents.

It is also planning for longer term assistance, which will include providing trucks to humanitarian organisations, coordinating the distribution of non-food relief items, procuring equipment to treat and distribute clean water, and organising the return of IDPs back to Abyei, once the crisis is over. 

For more information, please contact Gerard Waite at, IOM Juba .  Tel + 249 922406615  Email: gwaite@iom.int

Simona Opitz Public Information Officer International Organization for Migration(IOM) Nairobi, Kenya Tel:                 +254 20 444 4174 - Ext. 301 Mobile:        +254 738 561 175 Fax:                +254 20 444 9577 Email:            sopitz@iom.int