SUDAN / LRA IDPS

UN Deputy Special Envoy and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan Ameerah Haq expresses grave concern about the increasing number of deaths and displacements due to the escalating attacks by the rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) against civilians. UNMIS

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:34
• Production Date: 14 September 2009
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS ASSISTANCE MISSION IN SUDAN - UNMIS
• Subject Topical: REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS; HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
• Geographic Subject: SUDAN
• MAMS Id: U090914b

Description

STORY: SUDAN / LRA IDPS
TRT: 2:34
SOURCE: UNMIS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ ZANDE/ NATS

DATELINE: 11 SEPTEMBER 2009 YAMBIO, SUDAN

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, Ameerah Haq, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Resident Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, arriving in Yambio on UN helicopter
2. Med shot, refugees and internally displaced
3. Med shot, refugees and internally displaced
4. Close up, mother and child
5. Med shot, Ameerah Haq talking to refugees
6. Med shot, mother feeding baby
7. Close up, mother listening
8. Med shot, Ameera Haq listening to refugees
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ameerah Haq, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Resident Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan:
“Over and above the displacements is, I think, the very brutal way in which attacks are taking place. Children are being abducted by the LRA, we spoke with many families who had lost children, both young girls and boys and many people have just lost everything that they have had and have no security about going back.”
10. Med shot, Veronica Cosmos IDP from Ezo
11. SOUNDBITES (Zande) Veronica Cosmos, IDP from Ezo:
“I witnessed LRA brutality killing and harassing people inside a church. I was afraid and left immediately with my children.”
12. Med shot, Media Kulli, LRA attack survivor.
13. SOUNDBITE (Zande) Media Kulli, LRA Attack Survivor:
“I was at my farm when the LRA came. They shot me in my arm for no reason and left me bleeding.”
14. Close up, Media Kulli arm
15. Med shot, group of mothers
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Ameerah Haq, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Resident Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan:
“While the humanitarian community is providing food and non-food items, the food itself is becoming a magnet for the LRA attacks, in a sense they are chasing the food. So that obviously causes a dilemma. And the answer to that is really in terms on how we can provide security around a perimeter.”
17. Med shot, Ameera Haq with group of IDP’s
18. Med shot, Ameera Haq hugging a refugee from Congo.

Storyline

The United Nations Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Resident Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Ameerah Haq, has expressed grave concern about the increasing number of deaths and displacements due to the escalating attacks by the rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) against civilians – mostly women and children in Southern Sudan’s Western and Central Equatoria States.

The recent attacks by the LRA rebels have triggered widespread panic and fear in regions bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR).

Talking to journalists in Yambio, Haq said that during the last six weeks alone eleven incidents of LRA attacks have been reported - seven of the attacks in the in the first week of September alone. The fresh attacks by Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in Southern Sudan have forced thousands of people to flee their homes and created a worrying point in humanitarian needs.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ameerah Haq, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Resident Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan:
“Over and above the displacements is, I think, the very brutal way in which attacks are taking place. Children are being abducted by the LRA, we spoke with many families who had lost children, both young girls and boys and many people have just lost everything that they have had and have no security about going back.”

Veronica Cosmos is a mother of five from Ezo County, south of Yambio. She witnessed LRA killings and people being abducted from inside a church.

SOUNDBITES (Zande) Veronica Cosmos, IDP from Ezo:
“I witnessed LRA brutality killing and harassing people inside a church. I was afraid and left immediately with my children.”

Media Kulli from Gangura nearly lost his life when the rebels came to his village. He was working in the garden and was shot in his arms.

SOUNDBITE (Zande) Media Kulli, LRA Attack Survivor:
“I was at my farm when the LRA came. They shot me in my arm for no reason and left me bleeding.”

The LRA has been terrorizing people living in the border area with the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic (CAR). Most of those on the run had already been uprooted by earlier LRA incursions.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ameerah Haq, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Resident Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan:
“While the humanitarian community is providing food and non-food items, the food itself is becoming a magnet for the LRA attacks, in a sense they are chasing the food. So that obviously causes a dilemma. And the answer to that is really in terms on how we can provide security around a perimeter.”
Since the start of 2009, the UN has mounted a major humanitarian operation in Southern Sudan, involving six UN agencies and a large number of NGOs to meet humanitarian needs to the affected people in Western and Central Equatoria States.
The Government of Southern Sudan’s mediated peace talks between LRA and the government of Uganda, which was seen as the best chance to end the 22-years of brutal conflict in the region witnessed a setback in April 2008 when the LRA leader, Joseph Kony failed to appear and sign the Final Peace Agreement at Sudan-DR Congo border.