Raga fighting pushes up relief food needs

The United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) delivered a total of 2,900 mt of relief food to almost 413,000 beneficiaries in southern Sudan in October, or 255 percent of the quantity projected for that period in the annual needs assessment (ANA) for 2000/01, according to the agency's southern sector report for October.

This was largely because of increased food needs in Raga County, Western Bahr al-Ghazal, as a result of intensified fighting between government forces and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) before and after the government regained control of Raga town in mid-October; as well as an increased number of people displaced from Upper Nile to Aweil (in Northern Bahr al-Ghazal) and Tonj (in Warab State), it said.

The military struggle for control of Raga County had resulted in incessant military activity throughout the county, including heavy bombardment of the village of Mangayath during WFP food deliveries, as well as in insecurity, which was hampering a planned assessment and food intervention in Machar Gok, the report stated.

Fighting in May/June displaced more than 30,000 civilians in Western Bahr al-Ghazal (up to 50,000 by some estimates), and around 10,000 more have been reportedly displaced from Raga and surrounding areas in the renewed fighting in recent weeks.

Food interventions had been conducted in Mapel, Mangayath and Awada to serve about 42,000 beneficiaries (both internally displaced persons -IDPs - and local populations) in Wau and Raga counties, it said.

WFP's delivery of 1,667 mt of food to some 196,230 vulnerable people in Northern Bahr al-Ghazal was fully 466 percent of the quantity planned for the region in the ANA, according to the southern sector report.

That was as a result of an increased number of IDPs from Wau, Bahr al-Ghazal, and western Upper Nile, to the Aweil counties (South, West and East), as well as the poor food situation in Aweil South, and intensified fighting in Raga, it added.

The indications from preliminary ANAs for 2001/02 in Northern Bahr al-Ghazal were that Twic County (where the forthcoming harvest is not expected to be good) was continuing to receive IDPs from western Upper Nile, where security continued to be volatile due to its proximity to the oilfields, WFP reported.

Elsewhere, a combination of flooding, which could significantly affect crops, and insecurity "implies the need for continued food aid for western Upper Nile early in the coming year", although humanitarian access might be limited by high military mobility and frequent attacks in the area - as was usual in the dry season between January and May, it said.

Ruweng County, where there was also a volatile security situation, and military attacks meant there was no substantial cultivation this year, remained a priority for WFP food aid interventions in 2002, the agency said.

"Frequent bombing and the fear of [helicopter] gunship attacks have forced much of the population to flee their homes at various times of the year", and harvests would be generally poor as insecurity had prevented people from cultivating and caring for crops, it added.

Inter-factional and inter-clan fighting among the Nuer population had also given rise to serious food insecurity and malnutrition in Bieh, Phou and Latjor states, according to WFP.

The population in the north of Leech State, near the oilfields, had also become increasingly food insecure, as two years of inter-factional fighting and direct government attacks had caused repeated displacement, hampered cultivation and disrupted normal trading patterns, it said.

Planning is continuing for a food intervention in the Nubah Mountains, where displacement and malnutrition portend a serious humanitarian crisis, with two C-130 Hercules planes made available for an intervention from El Obeid (Al-Ubayyid), Northern Kordofan, pending government clearance for the operation.