Thousands of South Sudanese flee fighting in Sudan to return home

Tens of thousands of exhausted people are heading home to the world's youngest country as they flee a brutal conflict in neighbouring Sudan.

Fighting between Sudan's military and a rival militia killed at least 863 civilians in Sudan before a seven-day ceasefire began on Monday night. Many in South Sudan are concerned about what could happen if the fighting next door continues.

“After escaping danger there’s more violence,” said South Sudanese Alwel Ngok, sitting on the ground outside a church. “There’s no food, no shelter, we’re totally stranded, and I’m very tired and need to leave,” she said.

Ngok thought she’d be safe returning home after fleeing clashes in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, where she watched three of her relatives killed. She and her five children arrived in Renk, South Sudan, where people were sheltering on the ground.

So far, some 50,000 people have crossed into the border town of Renk, many sheltering in stick huts along the road and in government buildings throughout the city.

The longer they stay, the greater the risk of fighting between communities, many with longstanding grievances stemming from the civil war. Many are frustrated because they don’t know what lies ahead.

In fact, days after Ngok and her family arrived, she said, a man was beaten to death with sticks in a fight that began with a dispute over water. Communities in Renk said the fight then became a wider dispute between the ethnic groups.

Delayed transportation

At first, the local government wanted to divide the South Sudanese returning through Renk, based on their place of origin. Aid groups, however, pushed back. Together with the government and community leaders, the aid groups are engaging in peace dialogues.

“We are worried (about more violence)," said Yohannes William, the chairman for the humanitarian arm of the government in Upper Nile state. “The services that (are) being provided here, they are limited. We have been told that this is a transit centre, anyone who comes should be there two days or three days and then transit.”

"But now, unfortunately, due to the delayment of transportation, they have been there for more than two weeks, three weeks,” William said.

Situated at the northernmost tip of South Sudan, Renk is connected to other parts of the country by few roads. The main routes are flights or boat trips along the Nile, and many people can’t afford them.

The United Nations' International Organization for Migration is trying to send the most vulnerable South Sudanese who have returned — some 8,000 people — home by boat, with the goal of transporting nearly 1,000 people daily along the Nile to the state capital of Malakal.

However, the trips have just begun, and problems in coordination between aid groups and the government at the port this month delayed people from leaving, with children, babies and the sick camped by empty boats for days under the scorching sun.

City doubles in size

“The situation is dire … (South Sudan) is now being forced to receive additional refugees and returnees. As a result, the humanitarian needs in the country will continue to grow,” said Michael Dunford, regional director for East Africa for the World Food Program.

Aid workers say it could take up to two months to decongest the city, which has nearly doubled in size. But Malakal already hosts some 44,000 displaced people in a UN protection camp, many still too afraid to leave for security reasons.

And some who have already returned to Malakal from Sudan say they're unsure if there's a home to go back to, having had no contact with their families during the civil war.

“I don't know if my relatives are dead or alive,” said William Deng. The 33-year-old hasn't been able to speak to his family in neighbouring Jonglei state, which has little phone service, since returning in early May.