Worsening humanitarian situation in Abyei
May 30, 2011
Tens of thousands of lives are now at risk following the attack on the central Sudanese region of Abyei by forces from the north, according to the head of the local diocese.
“The humanitarian situation of over 40,000 people who have fled from Abyei is even more dramatic,” said Msgr. Roko Taban Mousa, apostolic administrator of Malakal. “These people have no support, lack of food and medicine, in part because North Sudanese troops have occupied Abyei and also because they have seized food stocks held in the city.”
“The government of South Sudan has appealed to international organizations because the displaced persons from Abyei need help, but so far, from what I know, nothing has happened, even if there are people of good will who want to help them,” he added. “Furthermore, the rain continues to scourge, and to make things worse there is the presence of mosquitoes and the outbreak of diseases like malaria and diarrhea.”
Two million lost their lives in the long Sudanese civil war (1983-2005) between the Muslim north and the largely animist and Christian south, which voted to become an independent nation in January. The 2005 peace agreement mandated a similar referendum in oil-rich Abyei, but the referendum was never held.
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Further information:
- "The situation of displaced persons from Abyei is always more dramatic, " said the Apostolic Administrator of Malakal (Fides)
- Sudan: humanitarian disaster in Abyei (CWN, 5/26)
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