Sudan’s Ministry of Welfare and Social Security announced that a decision has been made to relocate all arrivals from South Sudan at Kilo 10 reception site in White Nile State to five alternative sites, as the Kilo 10 is subject to flooding.

In its latest weekly humanitarian bulletin, OCHA Sudan said there are an estimated 30,000 South Sudanese refugees at Kilo 10 site, mainly children and women.

“While the details and dates of the relocation are yet to be determined, an upcoming meeting with the Commissioner-General of Humanitarian Aid Commission is expected to focus on these details. The first site, Khaira Tawakalna, is confirmed and is approximately 80km north of Kilo 10,” the bulletin reads.

UNHCR has already commenced preparations for logistics and transportation, according to the humanitarian update.

Since the crisis started in South Sudan in December 2013 more than 80,000 people fled northward into Sudan.

Blue Nile refugees

Some of those crossing into Sudan include refugees from Blue Nile who had fled since 2011 to Upper Nile State, but now are forced by conflict back into their state of origin.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reports that ‘hundreds’ of refugees have returned to Blue Nile from Maban refugee camps in Upper Nile State due to significant food shortages in the camps.

Insecurity has prevented WFP from moving enough food to supply the refugee camps.

Other Blue Nile refugees crossed through southern Blue Nile onward into western Ethiopia, where other refugee camps had already existed before the latest South Sudan crisis started. 

Photo: South Sudanese refugees wait at a border gate in Joda, in the Jeblein locality in Sudan's White Nile State, 16 January 2014 (Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)