Race against time in South Sudan - Reuters AlertNet

Source: member

The Danish Refugee Council has established a refugee camp in the conflict affected border region between Sudan and South Sudan. The camp is ready to receive between 15 and 25,000 refugees, but water drills in the area have not yet yielded results.

500,000 people has been displaced in Sudan since the independence of South Sudan and renewed fighting in the border region. Some are IDPs inside Sudan and others have fled to Ethiopia or South Sudan.

In the Northeast corner of South Sudan where fighting is raging across the border 25,000 refugees are placed in a camp that will be exposed in the upcoming rainy season. There is a potential danger of floods and outbreaks of cholera and in cooperation with UNHCR the Danish Refugee Council has established a new camp to receive the many people.

"The situation is extremely critical - we neeed to move these people away from the danger and therefore we have established a camp. But although the geological studies confirmed that there was water in the area, the humanitarian organization that has been assigned to the task by the UNHCR has not yet been successful in their drillings, "says Christian Gad Emergency Coordinator for the Danish Refugee Council, just returned from South Sudan.

Most of the drinking water in the refugee camps in South Sudan is brought in by trucks. At the moment the 25,000 refugees awaiting transfer to the newly built refugee camp receive just 5 liters of water a day.

"South Sudan is characterized by lack of infrastructure and during the rainy season it is a huge challenge to bring drinking water in. Potentially we risk is a situation that combines floods of contaminated water and the lack of clean drinking water," says Christian Gad.

New water drillings are underway, but the situation is critical and all options must be considered.

"If there is no water in the area, we may have to move the camp. There is no doubt that the humanitarian actors are challenged in an impenetrable and conflict-ravaged region, but we must explore all possibilities to ensure assistance, "says Christian Gad.

The Danish Refugee Council has operated in Sudan since 2004. When South Sudan gained independence in 2011, the Danish Refugee Council was already present in the country. With the expansion of the humanitarian operations, the organisation is now active in four regions in southern Sudan - Upper Nile State, Northern Bahr El Ghazal, Warrap and Central Equatoria.