Though Cowards Flinch

This is a guest post from TCF friend and South Sudan expert/advocate, Tim Flatman.  It is a fuller version of the edit that appeared, with all the political bits taken out, at Liberal Conspiracy.  You can see footage of Tim’s recent visit to the area here.

When you’ve read both the politics and the action Tim’s involved in, please do consider sparing a few quid to help the Abyei returnees get through towards the next harvest in October. Blimey, even I’ve donated, and I’m a tight bastard.

In May last year, up to 150,000 people were displaced from Abyei when the Sudanese Armed Forces invaded the area, burned down the local Ngok Dinka population’s homes and looted schools and churches for materials that can now be found for sale in Muglad market.

I have just returned from a visit to Abyei, where I was able to meet with the first returnees north of the river Kiir, and distribute a small amount of food ($1,200 worth of grain & flour) bought with donations from family and friends. Government soldiers are still present in the town, but the former residents of the area have started to return to their villages and report that they are well-protected by the Ethiopian peackeepers (UNISFA) who are now fully deployed in the area. 

However, they missed the last planting season while they were displaced and have no food available now. They are surviving on wild fruit and gum, but report that they are not sure if some of it is poisonous and that it is making them ill.

The trouble is that, while the local people are returning, and UNISFA have cleared access routes of mines making it possible to distribute food, NGOs and even UN agencies are more reticent about re-engaging. Some are awaiting official confirmation that access routes have been de-mined. The local population suspect political interference from the Government of Sudan since official confirmation still looks a long way off, even though UNISFA confirm that routes are cleared, travel along them regularly and are willing to escort others along them.

Others are pointlessly waiting for permission from the Government of Sudan to enter the area. I travelled in on a South Sudanese visa, against the wishes of the Government of Sudan who appeared to be putting pressure on UNISFA not to let me in. The local community in neighbouring Agok won the argument with UNISFA that since the area is, under the Temporary Interim agreement signed in Addis Ababa, under the presidencies of both countries, a visa from either is sufficient to enter.

It is possible to assist returnees’ it is just a question of whether there is the will to do it.

A lack of food is not deterring returnees from telling their family and friends to come back. They cite a number of reasons – the most important of which is their strong emotional attachment to the land where their ancestors have lived and died. Some also see themselves as preparing the way for others to return. They are rebuilding tukuls and will prepare the land for cultivation – providing they can get hold of seed and tools – hoping to be able to support themselves from October when they can harvest crops.

Returnees also told me that the difficulties of living as displaced people in Warrap and Western Bahr-Ghazal states forced them to come back. One woman in Wunrok village on the edge of Abyei town told me she had come back the day before and that it was better to starve in your homeland than to starve elsewhere. A man in Lau reported that there had been nowhere to bury relatives who died of starvation in Warrap state and even cooking was difficult as neighbours demanded a fee for borrowing pans.

The numbers of returnees will continue to rise, despite the food shortages. Pressure must be brought to bear on NGOs to carry out regular distributions, as well as fixing water pumping systems that were vandalised by the Sudanese Armed Forces. In the meantime, people are starving now, and so with the help of friends and family of the returnees in nearby Agok, I intend to carry out a distribution as soon as possible. £4,000 will be enough to buy and transport enough grain to feed the returnees for a month.

For more details and to donate, go here: