Bahr al-Ghazal returnees need food support - WFP

About 12,200 people have returned from northern Sudan to Twic County, Northern Bahr al-Ghazal, since December 2001, largely because of falling incomes in northern towns and farms, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).

A WFP rapid monitoring assessment conducted in Twic County from 11 to 17 March found that about two-thirds of the returnees were expected to set up new households and would therefore need food support through to the next harvest, WFP said in its latest southern sector update.

Most of the returnees had fled Bahr al-Ghazal between 1993 and 1998 because of insecurity and the famine of 1998, the report stated.

Although WFP reported no major security incidents in the regions of Upper Nile and Jonglei where WFP teams conducted food aid interventions, fighting around the oilfields of western Upper Nile (Wahdah State) meant that only "hit and run" interventions could be made in several places.

A government of Sudan helicopter gunship attack during a WFP relief good distribution at the village of Bieh, western Upper Nile, in February led to the deaths of at least 24 people, and was widely condemned by governments and aid agencies.

The government's denial of humanitarian flight access for March to Bieh, Buoth, Kuey and Koch in western Upper Nile, as well additional locations in Bieh State, Phou State and Ruweng County, meant that planned food aid interventions to some 57,000 people in this highly food-insecure area could not be carried out, WFP said.

Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), the umbrella operation for UN and nongovernmental agencies working in Sudan, each month submits a request to the Sudanese government for humanitarian access to a number of locations in war-torn southern Sudan.

The Sudanese government at the start of March increased the number of flight-denied locations in southern Sudan from 26 to over 40. In April, Khartoum placed 43 locations on its list of locations to which aid agencies would be denied flight access.

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima at the time condemned the move, and urged the government of Sudan to rescind its decision. The imposition of flight denials would have serious repercussions on the entire populations of Upper Nile, Bahr al-Ghazal and Lakes regions, the UN said.

In Upper Nile and Jonglei states, 67 percent of planned food deliveries had been made during the reporting period, the shortfall arising due to insecurity, government of Sudan flight denials and low airdrop capacity, the WFP report said. Over 150,000 people in those states had been served with 913 mt of food aid, it added.

In Lakes (Al-Buhayrat) State, an inter-agency assessment of internally displaced persons (IDPs) carried out in Tonj County estimated that about 2,300 households had arrived in the county, having fled helicopter gunship and ground attacks and aerial bombardments from areas around the oilfields in western Upper Nile, WFP said. Most of the IDPs were living in lowland areas along rivers and so could not be easily reached, it added.

In Eastern Equatoria there had also been concerns during March that insecurity arising from an escalation in fighting between the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army and the Ugandan army could spill over into eastern Torit County, where WFP had intervention activities. Because of insecurity in parts of Torit County, WFP had been unable to conduct the annual needs assessment in the area, and some medical services provided by Catholic Relief Services had been withdrawn, the report said.

Throughout the Lakes and Equatoria regions, 583 mt of food aid was delivered to over 86,000 people, WFP said.

Across southern Sudan, a total of 3,097 mt of food aid was distributed to 225,254 people in March, representing 67 percent of the tonnage planned for the month, the WFP update stated.