Delivering aid to people in Sudan's Western Equatoria State bordering on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is being hampered by insecurity, heavy rain and the poor state of roads, officials said.
"It's not easy to reach every village during the rainy season," Jemma Nunu Kumba, the state's governor told IRIN.
The long rains started in April for most of Western Equatoria but in late March for some areas.
Recalling the difficulties she encountered in April 2008, when she toured regions affected by the activities of the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Kumba said her convoy failed to negotiate sections of the muddy roads in the state.
The state started building the Mundri-Tombura and the Yambio-Ibba trunk roads in February and Kumba confirmed that construction work was still going on.
Besides the presence of LRA rebels, Western Equatoria also hosts hundreds of Congolese refugees and the bad roads mean access to camps for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) is difficult.
"The rainy season will affect access to several areas, especially Ezo and Tambura," Jim Ocitti, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told IRIN on 14 April. "It will create difficulties of pre-positioning as stocks of relief commodities may be attractive to the LRA."
According to a situation report issued by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on 3 April, security along the Yambio-Ezo road, particularly from Naandi to Andari, had deteriorated due to LRA activities, and the 34km stretch from Yei to Lasu was in a poor state and insecure.
"Already, the current situation of the [Yei-Lasu] road is a major hindrance to programme delivery," according to an OCHA update covering the week ending 22 March. "The situation could be worse with the coming of the rainy season."
OCHA said the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) was mobilising support from NGO partners and the engineering unit of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) to repair the Yei-Lasu road.
According to OCHA, the number of displaced in the state rose from 36,029 in March to 38,500 by 9 April. Of these, 16,135 are refugees from DRC. Some 50,000 people living in the LRA-affected area have to shoulder the burden of this influx. Most of the refugees and IDPs are in the Ezo, Tambura, Mundri West, Mundri East, Nzara, Ibba, Maridi and Yambio areas.
Appeal
In January, Kumba launched an appeal for aid, with a response from humanitarian agencies which she has described as inadequate. "This is not enough any more," Kumba told IRIN. "They [the refugees and IDPs] don't have water. The sanitation is not good."
An increase in the number of IDPs and refugees means a strain on the state's social services.
"The World Food Programme is delivering food, but they move under fear of attack," Lexton Wani, an official of the Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission based in Western Equatoria , told IRIN. "Sometimes, the food is delivered, but people don't know how to eat it; you're giving someone sorghum, but people don't have grinding mills."
Ocitti said inter-agency assessments confirm that food security and nutrition have deteriorated over the past three months while diseases such as acute watery diarrhoea, dysentery, malaria and measles are spreading.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1,653 cases of acute watery diarrhoea, 697 cases of dysentery, and 5,333 cases of malaria had been reported across Southern Sudan since the rains started.
"It's going to be very difficult; the food trucks may not get very far and diseases, such as cholera, will hit the population," said Wani.
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"It's not easy to reach every village during the rainy season," Jemma Nunu Kumba, the state's governor told IRIN.
The long rains started in April for most of Western Equatoria but in late March for some areas.
Recalling the difficulties she encountered in April 2008, when she toured regions affected by the activities of the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Kumba said her convoy failed to negotiate sections of the muddy roads in the state.
The state started building the Mundri-Tombura and the Yambio-Ibba trunk roads in February and Kumba confirmed that construction work was still going on.
Besides the presence of LRA rebels, Western Equatoria also hosts hundreds of Congolese refugees and the bad roads mean access to camps for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) is difficult.
"The rainy season will affect access to several areas, especially Ezo and Tambura," Jim Ocitti, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told IRIN on 14 April. "It will create difficulties of pre-positioning as stocks of relief commodities may be attractive to the LRA."
 It's not easy to reach every village during the rainy season |
"Already, the current situation of the [Yei-Lasu] road is a major hindrance to programme delivery," according to an OCHA update covering the week ending 22 March. "The situation could be worse with the coming of the rainy season."
OCHA said the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) was mobilising support from NGO partners and the engineering unit of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) to repair the Yei-Lasu road.
According to OCHA, the number of displaced in the state rose from 36,029 in March to 38,500 by 9 April. Of these, 16,135 are refugees from DRC. Some 50,000 people living in the LRA-affected area have to shoulder the burden of this influx. Most of the refugees and IDPs are in the Ezo, Tambura, Mundri West, Mundri East, Nzara, Ibba, Maridi and Yambio areas.
Appeal
In January, Kumba launched an appeal for aid, with a response from humanitarian agencies which she has described as inadequate. "This is not enough any more," Kumba told IRIN. "They [the refugees and IDPs] don't have water. The sanitation is not good."
An increase in the number of IDPs and refugees means a strain on the state's social services.
"The World Food Programme is delivering food, but they move under fear of attack," Lexton Wani, an official of the Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission based in Western Equatoria , told IRIN. "Sometimes, the food is delivered, but people don't know how to eat it; you're giving someone sorghum, but people don't have grinding mills."
Ocitti said inter-agency assessments confirm that food security and nutrition have deteriorated over the past three months while diseases such as acute watery diarrhoea, dysentery, malaria and measles are spreading.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1,653 cases of acute watery diarrhoea, 697 cases of dysentery, and 5,333 cases of malaria had been reported across Southern Sudan since the rains started.
"It's going to be very difficult; the food trucks may not get very far and diseases, such as cholera, will hit the population," said Wani.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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