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SOUTH SUDAN / BENTIU FLOODINGS
STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / BENTIU FLOODINGS
TRT: 3:25
SOURCE: UNMISS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
DATELINE: 24 AUGUST 2014, BENTIU, SOUTH SUDAN
1. Wide, Aerial, of POC site.
2. Wide, Elevated, POC site.
3. Med, Elevated IDP’s walking through water
4. Wide, Women walking through water
5. Medium, Women walking through water
6. Medium, Resident Coordinator and Ambassadors
7. Medium, Resident Coordinator helping children out of the water
8. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Toby Lanzer, UN Resident Humanitarian Coordinator, South Sudan:
“One question I ask myself is why are people here? I have been in town, I have been to the center of Bentiu and it is dry and yet people are choosing to be here on this UN base knee deep in mud and water and slop, clearly because there is a palpable sense of fear and foreboding about the situation whereby the only place that people want to be and have chosen to be and they have told me this: the only place that they feel safe is here on the UN base.”
9. Wide, Man making barrier with mud
10. Close, Man making barrier with mud
11. Wide, Peacekeeper and delegation in flood waters of POC
12. Med, OTS, Children carrying wood
13. Wide, Back, Peacekeepers walking through flood waters
14. Wide, British Ambassador and Peacekeepr walking through flood waters
15. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Ian Huges, British Ambassador to South Sudan:
“This is not the first POC site I am visiting in South Sudan as British Ambassador but it is definitely the worst. There is something completely inhuman about the living conditions here day in, day out. It is wrong; the UN is doing the best it can to help the people here, but the best thing for their future and the future of the country is that they go home. That requires a lot of work, it requires leadership on the part of the South Sudanese Government and the opposition to find solutions that will end this conflict that causes tens of thousands to have to live like that.”
16. Wide, Bed in the open
17. Med, IDP’s walking through flood waters with belongings on their heads
18. Wide, Flooded IDP tents
19. Wide, IDP’s wading thru flooded area
20. Medium, Newly constructed latrines
21. Medium, Dutch Ambassador and delegation crossing bridge in the POC site
22. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Robert van den Dool, Dutch Ambassador to South Sudan:
“For me this is the first POC camp that I have visited and frankly it is totally appalling what I see here. It illustrates how necessary it is that the fighting stops and people will be allowed to go to their home peacefully, because to live here is not human.”
23. Long, Delegation walking along mud path in the POC site
24. Medium, Back, man’s legs walking in mud in POC site
25. Medium, UN Resident Humanitarian Coordinator speaking with IDP Family
Over 40,500 Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) now occupy the UN Protection of Civilians site in the oil producing state of Bentiu. The area has been flooded by rains over the past several days and now the majority of the IDPs are forced to live in the flooded area as it is the only place they feel safe.
On Saturday 23 August 2014 the United Nations Resident Humanitarian Coordinator, Toby Lanzer took a high level delegation to Bentiu to get a first-hand look at the conditions that the IDP’s were living in.
The delegation included the UK Ambassador to South Sudan Ian Hughes and the newly arrived Dutch Ambassador to the country Robert van den Dool.
Lanzer said that even though the conditions are bad, the IDPs have no other option because of the continued security threat outside the protection site.
With 100 IDPs to one latrine the conditions in the camp during this rainy season are very dire. Latrines have been collapsing under the deluge of rain.
British Ambassador Ian Hughes urged both parties to end the conflict so that the people in the camps could go back to their homes. He described their living conditions as ‘inhumane’.
He also said “this is not the first POC site I am visiting in South Sudan as British Ambassador but it is definitely the worst. There is something completely inhuman about the living conditions here day in, day out. It is wrong; the UN is doing the best it can to help the people here, but the best thing for their future and the future of the country is that they go home. That requires a lot of work, it requires leadership on the part of the South Sudanese Government and the opposition to find solutions that will end this conflict that causes tens of thousands to have to live like that.”
Robert van den Dool, the newly appointed Dutch Ambassador to South Sudan was visibly taken aback as he waded through the flood waters of the POC site. He spoke about the experience.
He said “for me this is the first POC camp that I have visited and frankly it is totally appalling what I see here. It illustrates how necessary it is that the fighting stops and people will be allowed to go to their home peacefully, because to live here is not human.”
With the deadline passing on 10 August 2014 without a transitional Government being formed, the hopes for peace dwindle as the days go by. The numbers of IDP’s in UN bases throughout the country has risen and is now at an all-time high of 102,000. Stretching the already stretched resources of the Mission and its Humanitarian Partners to make life and comfortable as they can for the IDP’s, but the rainy season in full swing this is going to be a mammoth task.
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