Pregnant women, separated families and sick elderly people are among thousands of refugees continuing to arrive daily into Sudan from conflict-stricken Ethiopia. Many appear traumatised and all are in dire need of humanitarian support.

“People are sleeping out in the open. There are no tents, just blankets. There is some food, like porridge and water, but there are no toilets, showers or health services. Many families arrived with nothing more than the clothes on their back. They are essentially arriving with nothing, to nothing,” said Country Director for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Sudan, Will Carter.

NRC is currently working in Um Raquba camp in Gedaref state, in the east of Sudan, where up to 5,000 people are crossing daily from Ethiopia. According to the UN, over 30,000 refugees have so far fled into Sudan after fighting erupted in the Tigray region earlier this month.

“There are pregnant women in the camp, diabetics with no insulin, people living with HIV/AIDS with no medical care, and children without parents. It’s a deeply traumatic and depressing time for many,” he added.

Carter said some people are arriving injured and many are highly distressed, having witnessed extreme violence back home.

“Some are injured and are being taken care of at the border crossing. Refugees have told us that they are worried for their relatives in Tigray as they are unable to reach them because of the communication shutdown. Others have told us harrowing stories about witnessing people being killed, forcing many to flee,” he said.

NRC is among very few humanitarian agencies working with state authorities to ensure that people receive the help they need and to avert a deeper crisis. In the coming days, NRC will provide cash assistance to newly arrived families to enable them to purchase basic items from local markets. An interagency humanitarian appeal will be launched soon to resource desperately needed life-saving assistance.

“The needs in this current crisis are immense, yet resources even for the wider aid efforts in Sudan are incredibly stretched. Donors have the opportunity now to stand with the government of Sudan and the people of Ethiopia, and urgently release money and help save thousands of lives. The Sudanese government can also support aid agencies by swiftly resolving logistical challenges and avoid unnecessary delays in the delivery of aid,” said Carter.

Dressed in a sharp black suit in front of an illustrious audience, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed strode onto stage at Oslo’s ornate City Hall on December 10, 2019 to accept the Nobel Peace Prize.

“War is the epitome of hell – I know because I have been there and back,” he said, recalling time as a young soldier in a 1998-2000 border war with Eritrea where tens of thousands died in trenches and minefields on scrubland.

Africa’s youngest leader, a fervent Pentecostalist from Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group the Oromo, said that as a radio operator he left his foxhole to seek a better signal only to return minutes later to find his entire unit killed by shells.

“I have seen brothers slaughtering brothers on the battlefield. I have seen older men, women and children trembling in terror under a deadly shower of bullets and artillery shells,” he continued in Oslo after being awarded the prize for brokering peace with Eritrea in 2018.

Now the 44-year-old Abiy is defying international appeals for mediation as he presses an offensive against the rebellious northern region of Tigray.

The conflict pits him against former comrades both in the war against Eritrea and, years later, as partners in government.

Born to a peasant farming family, Abiy’s father was Muslim and his mother Christian.

As a teenager, he joined the armed struggle against the Marxist dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam, who fell in 1991 at the hands of Tigrayan-led rebels. He was a United Nations peacekeeper in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Ethiopian army.

The government of Norway signed an agreement worth NOK 90 million (approximately USD 10 million), to support a safe return to school for children in South Sudan in 2020-2021.

In March 2020, all education facilities were closed due to COVID-19 putting the total number of children out-of-school at a staggering 4.2 million. Ensuring as many as possible are returning to school is a priority for the Ministry of General Education and Instruction and UNICEF, which the Government of Norway is supporting.

Most of the candidate classes in South Sudan resumed in October 2020. The rest of the classes will start in April 2021, meaning that the majority of the students will have lost an entire year of learning. Previous experiences show that the longer children are out of school, the harder it is to get them back to the classrooms. Bringing back girls is the largest challenge.

“Norway is committed to contribute to ensure children will return safely to school, especially girls and vulnerable children,” Said the Norwegian Ambassador to South Sudan, Siv Kaspersen. “This support is aimed at strengthening every effort towards a safe return to learning in South Sudan, support to nutrition for children and their mothers in flood-affected States. I would like to take this opportunity to call upon the Government of South Sudan to allocate more finances to Education and pay teachers a decent salary – on time.”

With 2.2 million children not enrolled before the pandemic, South Sudan was already one of the countries with the highest proportion of out-of-school children. While getting ready for all schools to reopen safely, a massive mobilization of communities and parents is needed to ensure children will fill up the classrooms as soon as they open.

“The contribution from the Government of Norway comes at the perfect time,” said the Minister of General Education and Instruction Hon Awut Deng Acuil. “Too many children are already missing out on education. As a country, we cannot afford for more children to be left behind and therefore we are thankful for the support from Norway.”

“The Government of Norway is an education partner you can count on,” said Mohamed Ag Ayoya, UNICEF South Sudan Representative.

“In a year where children have carried most of the consequences of COVID-19 restrictions and funding has dried up, the contribution from Norway is more important than ever to get back on track supporting a better future for children in South Sudan.”

The European Union Delegation, all Heads of Mission of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland express deep concern regarding recurrent reports of high numbers of incidents in South Sudan where national and international humanitarian aid workers are hindered, threatened, injured, and in some cases killed.

In 2020 alone up to 14 humanitarian workers have lost their lives and this continues to make South Sudan one of the most dangerous places to work as a humanitarian. We strongly condemn the October 5 attack on a clearly identified WFP humanitarian aid convoy carrying much-needed food assistance for South Sudanese people affected by severe food insecurity and flooding.

These incidents are not only a violation of the Cessation of Hostilities agreement but also contravene the UN Security Council Resolution 2417(2018) on Conflict and Hunger and must be acted upon. Attacks on civilians, aid workers, facilities and supplies are in breach of International Humanitarian Law. 

The October 9 Nobel Peace Prize statement announcing WFP as the recipient highlights South Sudan as a country of major concern, noting that “In countries such as South Sudan, the combination of violent conflict and the (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a dramatic rise in the number of people living on the brink of starvation…..The link between hunger and armed conflict is a vicious circle. We will never achieve the goal of zero hunger unless we also put an end to war and armed conflict.”  

In the face of increasing violence and conflicts and growing food insecurity, the COVID-19 pandemic and the dire situation the extensive flooding has caused the people of South Sudan, the Heads of Mission urge the R-TGoNU and all parties, now more than ever, to:

• provide a safe environment for humanitarian workers in South Sudan and tackle the violence and access impediments recurring in the country;
• investigate all reported incidents and hold the perpetrators accountable;
• uphold their commitment to deliver on the R-ARCSS and specifically Chapters II and III, through actions that allow principled humanitarian response grounded in humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence;
• remove formal and informal bureaucratic obstructions, including the numerous fees and taxes on the humanitarian response that delay and prohibit life-saving assistance and reduce the funds available for assisting those in need.

We have the highest respect for all humanitarian workers who put themselves at risk to assist millions of people with food, water, health care, shelter, and protection. We would like to take this opportunity to re-emphasize the Statement of Principles and Actions (Humanitarian Donors Nov 2019) and our collaboration and our support to stand with and serve the people of South Sudan.