HIGHLIGHTS
• Over 31,000 people are estimated to have fled their homes in the Jebel Marra area and taken refuge in North Darfur.
• HAC Central Darfur is verifying reports of 13,700 people displaced from the Jebel Marra.
• IOM and HAC have started the registration of IDPs and refugees in South Kordofan’s eastern corridor, which runs from El Abassiya to El Leri.
• Blue Nile State authorities have said that an interagency needs assessment mission will start in the first half of February.
People continue to flee conflict in Jebel Marra
People continue to flee their homes in the Jebel Marra area—a mountainous area that straddles North, Central and South Darfur states—and take refuge in North and Central Darfur as fighting between government forces and an armed movement continues. As of 31 January, it is estimated that 44,700 people have been displaced due to this conflict, which started on 15 January. These include an estimated 31,000 newly displaced people in North Darfur and another 13,700 in Central Darfur. These are reported but not verified numbers and are likely to change as more precise data becomes available. No civilian displacement from Jebel Marra to South and East Darfur has been reported.
An estimated 21,400 IDPs take refuge in Sortony, North Darfur
In Sortony (Kebkabiya locality), the African Union – United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) estimates that 21,400 internally displaced persons (IDPs) had taken refuge near their team site by 30 January. During 26 – 27 January, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the national NGOs Kebkabiya Smallholder Charitable Society (KSCS) and Anhar for Peace Development Organisation (ANHAR) carried out a quick needs assessment of these IDPs and provided initial assistance. ANHAR and KSCS—with support from the UN Children’s Agency (UNICEF)—delivered a water bladder with a capacity of 5,000 litres, chlorine for water purification and distributed nutrition supplements to 1,000 children under five years of age. According to the IDPs, they arrived from the villages of Tui, Korambe, Samra, Burgukiry, Bersi, Sura, Birgel, Kaguro, Fatah and Niortolo.
Aid organisations are working on providing further assistance to these displaced people. An inter-agency assessment is planned for 2 – 4 February during which the International Organization for Migration (IOM) will verify and register these IDPs. In the meantime, aid organisations continue to plan for response activities.
The World Health Organization (WHO), the State Ministry of Health (SMoH), UNICEF and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) will send medical supplies and medicine to Sortony.
WHO will provide three basic health kits and one rapid response kit (RRK) which are sufficient to cover the health needs of up to 15,000 people for a month. UNICEF will provide one primary health kit (PHK) and one integrated management of child illness kit (IMCI), which will cover the needs of 20,000 people for a month. UNFPA will provide one clean delivery kit and one midwifery kit, which are sufficient to cover the needs of 30,000 people for one month. The SMoH will supply assorted medicines.
For emergency shelter and household supplies, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) plans to assist about 3,050 families (benefitting about 16,000 people). The supplies will be sent from El Fasher town to Kebkabiya town. Each family will receive a set, which consists of a plastic sheet, a cooking set, a 20 litre plastic jerry can, two blankets and two sleeping mats.
For nutrition and food assistance, in addition to the nutrition supplements already distributed, UNICEF will send 100 cartons of nutritional supplements to Sortony for 1,000 children and WFP will send additional nutrition supplies to ensure that all the children under five years receive a full one-month ration. WFP is also planning to conduct an emergency general food distribution as soon as the verification exercise is completed.