6 Dec 2012

SOUTH SUDAN / REFUGEES

Humanitarian officials have warned that an influx of close to 110,000 Sudanese refugees to South Sudan's Upper Nile State could be a source of conflict due to pressure on local residents. UNMISS

Posted at: December 6, 2012 4:47 pm

Duration: 02:21

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / SUDANESE REFUGEES
TRT: 2.21
SOURCE: UNMISS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS 
 
DATELINE: 4-5 DECEMBER 2012, MABAN, SOUTH SUDAN

SHOTLIST:

4 DECEMBER, 2012, MABAN, SOUTH SUDAN
 
1. Wide shot, aerial view Maban 
2. Wide shot, airstrip Maban
3. Wide shot, DSRSG Toby Lanzer and delegation walking to cars
4. Med shot, getting into cars
5. Wide shot, walking into Yusif Batil refugee camp / Maban
6. Various shots, inspecting refugees' pottery
7. Med shot, team discussing
8. Wide shot, a refugee family in Yusif Batil
9. Med shot, a woman with children
10. Wide shot, a family seated
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sadia Al Gali, refugee woman:
"Our condition here is better, but the indigenous people bad to us. If we go to the forest they will fight us there and take away our axes that we must not cut down any tree there, we tell them that we need to cut fire wood for cooking but they say no don't cut, so what is the problem since we are here as refugees."
12. Wide shot, a refugee family in kitchen 
13. Med shot, a mother with children
14. Tilt down, woman grinding sorghum
15. Close up, sorghum in basket
16. Tilt up, woman grinding sorghum
17. Wide shot, main refugee market Yusif Batil camp
18. Med shot, refugees passing
19. Wide shot, raw brick making, Doro refugees camp Maban
20. Med shot, Lanzer discussing about project with UNHCR field officials
21. Wide shot, Lanzer and delegation walking in Doro camp
22. SOUNDBITE (English) Toby Lanzer, Deputy Special Representative in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, UN Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):
"The relationship between the refugees and the host communities have to be managed carefully because it is putting a lot of pressure on Maban County. There are 110,000 people here today – it could be much, much more in the future unfortunately - and that added to environmental pressures, it adds to the pressures on the medical services and the education services, which are being offered by the host authorities by the Government of South Sudan. So all this needs to be carefully managed and our commitment in the United Nations is to do just that."
23. Wide shot, delegation meeting with refugees and host community camp committee
24. Med shot, refugees elders seated
25. Wide shot, Lanzer talking to the refugee leaders committee
26. Med shot, committee mixed

STORYLINE:

An influx of close to 110,000 refugees in Upper Nile State could be a source of conflict due to pressure on local residents, humanitarian officials have warned.
 
But life goes on for these refugees - some who busy themselves with molding kilns to sell. The kilns are built to use minimal wood fuel and those who can afford these are able to make a purchase.

For Sadia Al Gali, a refugee and a mother of one, her daily search for wood fuel to cook meals amounts to a constant battle.

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Sadia Al Gali a refugee woman in Yusuf Batil Camp: 
"Our condition here is better, but the indigenous people bad to us. If we go to the forest they will fight us there and take away our axes that we must not cut down any tree there, we tell them that we need to cut fire wood for cooking but they say no don't cut, so what is the problem since we are here as refugees."

Despite the conflict, she and others are able to prepare their daily meals, and go on with what has become their daily life.

On a tour of Yusuf Batil camp in Maban country in Upper Nile State, where thousands of refugees have fled to, the United Nation's Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan Toby Lanzer flagged the importance of carefully managing the relationship between the refugees and the host communities.

Speaking to refugees and host community leaders in the state, Toby Lanzer said the United Nations would continue to work closely with host communities to assist and maintain refugee camps.

Lanzer, who also serves as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General in South Sudan, paid a two-day visit to Maban County to acquaint himself with overall conditions of refugees who had fled from Blue Nile State in Sudan.

SOUNDBITE (English) Toby Lanzer, Deputy Special Representative in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, UN Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):
"The relationship between the refugees and the host communities have to be managed carefully because it is putting a lot of pressure on Maban County. There are 110,000 people here today – it could be much, much more in the future unfortunately - and that added to environmental pressures, it adds to the pressures on the medical services and the education services, which are being offered by the host authorities by the Government of South Sudan. So all this needs to be carefully managed and our commitment in the United Nations is to do just that."

South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission Chairman Peter Lam Both accompanied Lanzer to the refugee camps.  Both called on the refugee leaders' committee to bar anyone with guns from the camp.

A report from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) at the end of November indicated that there are currently 112,379 refugees in Upper Nile, of which 112,020 are from Sudan. The report said humanitarian agencies had registered 86,174 arrivals in 2012.

During a preview presentation of a Consolidated Appeal for humanitarian assistance for South Sudan in Juba on 28 November, National Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Joseph Lual Achuil said the number of refugees in South Sudan was expected to rise to about 350,000 in the coming year.  The appeal also highlighted for the need of some funds to help Sudanese refugee communities currently in camps in border areas in the northern part of South Sudan and others who may be expected from other neighbouring countries.