HIGHLIGHTS
• About 1,000 newly displaced people in Habila town, West Darfur need humanitarian assistance, according to an inter-agency mission.
• Humanitarian organisations continue to assess the needs of people affected by the Jebel Marra crisis and provide them with assistance and basic services.
• More than 70,000 South Sudanese have arrived in Sudan in the first five months of 2016 as a result of conflict and deteriorating food security conditions in South Sudan.
• 5 June 2016 marks five years since the conflict between government forces and SPLMN started in South Kordofan.
About 1,000 people newly displaced in Habila, West Darfur need assistance
On 29 May, humanitarian partners, in collaboration with the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) in Habila locality, West Darfur State carried out a needs assessment of an estimated 1,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Habila town. These IDPs arrived in Habila town from Chukum Chukum, Alfayga Kabir and Alfayga Arengei villages during the last week of May following inter-communal tension in the area. The interagency team identified food and non-food household supplies as the main needs of the new IDPs. Humanitarian partners in Habila are making arrangements to provide assistance to the IDPs.
Meanwhile, some residents have reportedly been leaving Azerni village in Kereinik locality, about 30km east of the state capital, El Geneina following an attack by unidentified armed men on a mosque in the village on 22 May. The attack left six people dead and several other injured. The security situation in Azerni village has remained calm during the past week. Some residents, however, were said to be leaving the area for fear of reprisals. The government authorities and traditional leaders from both communities are engaged in negotiations to resolve the problem and tensions.
According to the Strengthening the Rule of Law and Legal Protection in Darfur project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), “the causes of the conflict in Darfur are multiple and complex, but weak governance, coupled with competition over increasingly limited natural resources (land, water, and livestock) essential for survival, underpin much of it. The spread of small arms has fuelled a situation where weaponry and violence often now define relationships between groups and communities”.
Compared to other Darfur states, West Darfur has seen significantly less new civilian displacement over the past few years, except for sporadic cases of short-term displacement mainly following inter-communal tension or violence.
According to humanitarian partners, 1,220 people were newly displaced in West Darfur throughout 2015. This was the lowest displacement figure among Darfur states during 2015.