SOUTH SUDAN / YIDA REFUGEE CAMP

The UN refugee agency is working to move refugees to safer areas. Between 60 and 200 Sudanese refugees continue to arrive daily at a camp in Yida in South Sudan’s Unity state after fleeing fighting in Sudan’s Southern Kordofan state. Around 23,000 people are already sheltering in Yida, which was the scene of air strikes last week. UNMISS

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:30
• Production Date: 18 November 2011
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS MISSION IN SOUTH SUDAN – UNMISS
• Subject Topical: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; PEACE AND SECURITY; HUMAN SETTLEMENTS; NUTRITION; HUMANITARIAN RELIEF
• Geographic Subject: SUDAN; SOUTH SUDAN
• MAMS Id: U111118d

Description

STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / YIDA REFUGEE CAMP
TRT: 2.30
SOURCE: UNMISS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC/ NATS

DATELINE: 15 NOVEMBER 2011, YIDA, SOUTH SUDAN / 15 NOVEMBER 2011, BENTIU, SOUTH SUDAN

Shotlist

15 NOVEMBER 2011, BENTIU, SOUTH SUDAN

1. Wide shot, chopper carrying humanitarian aid landing
2. Wide shot, WFP truck arriving to pick up food
3. Various shots, food being off-loaded

15 NOVEMBER 2011, YIDA, SOUTH SUDAN

4. Wide shot, new refugees registering
5. Med shot, two women
6. Med shot, registration of new refugees
7. Various shots, refugee camp
8. Various shots, woman pounding cereal
9. Various shots, woman breastfeeding
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Awadia Kifi, Refugee
“We came here to escape from our home where we were suffering because of bombardments. We had no food in our home and when we came and we are now suffering just like in our country.”
11. Various shots, camp residents
12. Med shot, students standing around school compound
13. Med shot, shattered tree
14. Wide shot, man pointing to where bomb fell next to a thatched classroom
15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Munir Belentiya, Refugee:
“On the 10th of this month at around 3 o’clock, an Antonov came and hit the camp. It dropped four bombs. Two of the bombs fell outside the camp into the bushes and one fell into the school. This school is for small children – that bomb crashed onto the tree and fell, but it did not explode. There were small children here and they were not injured.”
16. Med shot, students looking through thatched classroom
17. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Munir Belentiya, Refugee:
“One hundred and twelve children disappeared from the school and we do not know where they are. They run from the camp to the bush. The younger ones who did not run far away, we got them near here.”
18. Med shot, students

Storyline

United Nations agencies and their partners continue to provide services at a camp in Yida in South Sudan’s Unity state as they work to move displaced people to safer areas. The aid includes food, water, sanitation, basic health care and special assistance to the most vulnerable refugees.

Though some humanitarian personnel had been evacuated from the area in the wake of the attack on Yida camp, aid is being sent into the area from Bentiu the capital city of Unity State where it is being flown in from other locations.

Between 60 and 200 Sudanese refugees continue to arrive daily after fleeing fighting in Sudan’s Southern Kordofan state. Around 23,000 people are already sheltering in Yida, which was the scene of air strikes last week.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Awadia Kifi, Refugee
“We came here to escape from our home where we were suffering because of bombardments. We had no food in our home and when we came and we are now suffering just like in our country.”

Since the influx started in August, The United nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has been urging the residents of Yida camp to move further away from the unsafe border area.

Meanwhile, new refugee arrivals are trickling into the camp on a daily basis and are lacking in food. They fear bombardments which had been happening in their State.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Munir Belentiya, Refugee
“On the 10th of this month at around 3 o’clock, an Antonov came and hit the camp. It dropped four bombs. Two of the bombs fell outside the camp into the bushes and one fell into the school. This school is for small children. That bomb crashed onto the tree and fell, but it did not explode. There were small children here and they were not injured.”

Members of the ethnic Nuba community had fled the Yida refugee camp following the bombing but are now going back.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Munir Belentiya, Refugee
“One hundred and twelve children disappeared from the school and we do not know where they are. They run from the camp to the bush. The younger ones who did not run far away, we got them near here.”

UNHCR’s attempts to relocate refugees from Yida are being hampered because of the presence of landmines that have recently been found on roads in Unity state.

Increasing tensions in the border areas between Sudan and South Sudan have driven thousands of civilians to flee their homes since June, and various refugee sites have been established in South Sudan and Ethiopia to provide shelter, food and basic services to those affected by the violence.