South Sudan Crossborder Population Movement Dynamics Brief, April 2019

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Introduction

Since the beginning of conflict in 2013, millions of South Sudanese have been displaced, including to neighbouring countries. As of April 2019, 2.3 million South Sudanese people were registered as refugees or seeking asylum outside of their country. South Sudanese have mainly settled in Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR). While the majority of those displaced remain in refugee camps, there is limited understanding of crossborder dynamics in South Sudan. Detailed information on the scale and nature of return patterns is lacking.

To support prioritization of humanitarian assistance and protection services to returnings households (HHs), REACH is collecting data on crossborder trends using its Area of Knowledge (AoK) methodology, which remotely monitors needs and access to basic services across South Sudan on a monthly basis through multi-sector interviews with Key Informants (KIs), and Port and Road Monitoring (PRM) methodology, which monitors several key crossborder transit points in South Sudan (Kapoeta, Renk and Akobo). PRM allows to provide up-to-date information on the demographics and vulnerabilities of HHs that are leaving and entering key transit locations and identify the scale of movement trends in a hard-to-reach settlement. Rapid assessments (RA) focusing on crossborder movements were also conducted in Mathiang and Torit. This brief provides an analysis of AoK and PRM data relating to crossborder movement collected between May 2018 and April 2019 and incorporates qualitative data collected over the same period, as well as a secondary data review.

Key Findings

• There has been an increase in the volume of crossborder movement toward South Sudan at some border points since September, but the vast majority of displaced South Sudanese HHs have yet to permanently return to South Sudan.

• Crossborder movement trends varied greatly between the three points where REACH monitors ports and roads, seemingly depending on varying conditions in camps in neighbouring countries and variations in perception of safety of displaced HHs.

• In April AoK data, counties where highest proportion of assessed settlements reported that refugees had spontaneously returned were concentrated in the Greater Torit area, western bank and Southeastern Upper Nile, Northern Jonglei, and Southern Unity.

• Much of the areas where returnees are reported to have recently arrived also report low levels of access to basic services and some have been identified as severely food insecure.

• Displacement continued in South Sudan over the second half of 2018 and first quarter of 2019, with large scale movement from Yei River toward Uganda and DRC and internal displacement within Lakes State, Western Bahr al Ghazal (WBEG) and Jonglei.

• HHs coming back to South Sudan via towns where REACH monitors ports and roads reported high levels of vulnerabilities, especially related to maternity (a pregnant or breastfeeding woman). A vast majority of inbound HHs reported being partial HHs, meaning that they were travelling without some HH members.