Two recent reports from Arie Den Toom, the LWF South Sudan Country Representative, give an overview of the situation in Jonglei State in South Sudan. The area has been declared by the government as a disaster zone following clashes between two ethnic groups, the Lou-Nuer and the Murle. The two groups have been locked in a feud that involving cattle raids and abductions. According to Arie Den Toom, between 20,000 and 50,000 members of the Murle community have been displaced over the last seven months. There have also been over a 1,000 casualties from the fighting.

This area is also the center of the LWF’s work in the area and so they have been very involved in tracking the situation and formulating a response. Please keep the people of the region in your prayers as hostilities hopefully cease and people begin to move back to normal activities. Also, read more about the situation in the two LWF reports:

• 1st SitRep on Crisis Unfolding in Jonglei State (Jan 5, 2012)
• 2nd SitRep on Crisis Unfolding in Jonglei State (Jan 9, 2012)

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A new post on the Lutheran World Federation-Department of World Service (LWF-DWS) blog “Fruit Salad” gives an update on the situation in Dollo Ado. This is the camp is located on the Ethiopian side of the Somalia-Ethiopia border. The LWF works here to provide water and sanitation services. The camp has received tens of thousands of new arrivals from Somalia following the drought and famine crisis that continues to affect the Horn of Africa. In May-June 2011 alone, the camp took in over 55,000 new Somali arrivals.

This new update shows that the number of arriving refugees has dropped slightly from 170/day to 100-160/day. Yet, because of the massive number of earlier arrivals the transit camp (first stop for refugees) still has over 8,000 refugees waiting to gain access to the main camp area. The transit camp was originally designed to hold a maximum of 1500. LWF in its work to provide water and sanitation has had to truck in water to meet the increased demand. They have also upped waste management cleaning to a daily activity.

Within the main site a new camp (Bur Amino) has opened with a planned capacity of 40,000. So far 3,000 refugees have moved into this new camp. LWF is working to provide water not just for the refugees but the host community (local Ethiopian community) as well.

Read the full update: Update on Dollo Ado Refugee Camps 27th December 2011

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In mid-December the ELCA, through its International Disaster Response program, approved a disbursement of $102,337 to support a Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Community-Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) project in the Turkana district of Kenya. Now you might be wondering what CMDRR is or you might be wondering why it needs to be instituted in Turkana. And you might even be asking where Turkana is. Well I’m glad you asked. This post will answers these three questions. If you have any others, please share them in the comments.
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The situation at the Dollo Ado refugee camp in southern Ethiopia has started to stabilize with the number of new arrivals dropping from 200-300/day in early November to 200-300/week in mid-December. Though the area continues to be plagued by heavy rains and flooding. This has led to difficulty in the delivery of aid like food and water as well as the processing of refugees in the transit center. A welcomed new camp, Bur Amino, has opened and the first few hundred residents have begun to arrive. With a population max of 80,000 this new camp is expected to help alleviate the overcrowding in the other camps and at the transit center.

To learn more, check out the LWF Update.

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After the January referendum results were announced in February and it was learned that the overwhelming majority of Southern Sudanese were in favor of seceding from Sudan and forming a new country there were worries that violence would be renewed between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in the north and Nuba-SPLA (Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army) in the south. Yet, immediately after the announcement violence was kept to a minimum and the world prepared for a new independent republic to be formed July 9, 2011 in the area currently known as Southern Sudan.

Unfortunately, this calm was broken this past week with fighting between the SAF and SPLA taking place in the region of South Kordofan, which rests on the border that will exist between the to-be-created republic and the country of Sudan. There have also been reports that this violence has spilled over to include a high number of civilian casualities. According to a June 11 OCHA Report over 50,000 people have been displaced because of the violence with around 6,000 finding refuge at the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) compound on the outskirts of Kadugli.

With much of the humanitarian and press core communities being kept out of the country reports are spotty and aid is scarce. As we learn more we will continue to post updates. In the meantime please keep the people of Sudan in prayer as the innocent fall victim to the ruthless ambitions of the few and as a new country strarts to find its footing in this volatile area.

To learn more check out the ELCA Disaster Response page Sudan: South Kordofan Conflict. To get involved see the ELCA’s Washington Office’s Action Alert.

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Gifts to ELCA International Disaster Response allow the church to respond globally in times of need. Donate now.

The UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has released a new map showing the approximate numbers and locations of refugees from the Ivory Coast. The numbers continue to be high, particularly on the western edge of the country as people continue to be wary of returning. I was struck not only by the high numbers of refugees, but also by the distances some of them had to traverse and that the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) within Cote d’Ivoire.

The ELCA is working with its companions, the Lutheran Church in Liberia, Lutheran Development Service (LDS) in Liberia and the ACT Alliance to help those fleeing from the violence. To date the ELCA has allocated $60,000 towards the ACT appeal to meet the needs of the 175,000+ refugees in Liberia. It has also allocated $10,125 to help the Lutheran Church in Liberia rebuild part of the church’s Lutheran Training Center which was damaged by the war and a severe windstorm.

Hopefully as the new government begins to take form Ivorian citizens will begin to see in their country fertile soil in which to plant their trust and hopes. And perhaps the helping hand shown by neighboring countries may continue in a tradition of good will and friendly relations.

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Gifts to ELCA International Disaster Response allow the church to respond globally in times of need. Donate now.