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UN PhotoSOUTH SUDAN / SUDAN REFUGEES
STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / SUDAN REFUGEES
TRT: 07:00
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 11-13, APRIL 2024, RENK, UPPER NILE STATE SOUTH SUDAN
12 APRIL 2024, RENK, UPPER NILE STATE SOUTH SUDAN
1. Various shots, families at Transit Centre
2. Med shot, children carrying buckets of water
3. Wide shot, women collecting water
4. Wide shot, communal shelters
5. Various shots, children strapping luggage on wheelbarrow
6. Various shots, Kelly T. Clements, UNHCR’s Deputy High Commissioner and State Secretary to Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade of Sweden, Diana Janse, walking through Transit Centre
7. Various shots, Clements meeting displaced returnee, Mary Deng
8. Various shots, delegation visiting registration centre
9. Various shots, Clements meeting refugee women
10. Various shots, Janse
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Kelly T. Clements, Deputy United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“I am in Renk, in South Sudan, this is a place that has seen 530,000 people come through the border from Sudan and over 635,000 people in total, new arrivals to this country after war broke out a year ago. This is a community that has welcomed refugees from Sudan, but also welcomed those South Sudanese returning to their country after many, many years away.”
11 APRIL 2024, RENK, UPPER NILE STATE SOUTH SUDAN
12. Med shot, Sudanese refugee, Safa Abdulmutalleb, walking into her shelter
13. Various shots, Abdulmutalleb and her family
14. Close up, Abdulmutalleb selecting coffee beans
15. Med shot, Mahmoud Saeed, Safa’s husband, passing drinking water to his son
16. Close up, Safa talking to her son
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Safa Abdulmutalleb, Sudanese Refugee:
“It was very, very difficult. For a long period, we were hiding under our beds, no food, no water, no help. The bombs came from all sides. Especially where we lived, it was extremely difficult as we were surrounded by army bases and Military Industrial complexes.”
18. Various shots, Safa and her family
19. Close up, Abdulmutalleb roasting coffee beans
20. Various shots, Abdulmutalleb pounding coffee beans
21. Close up, Abdulmutalleb sieving coffee
22. Various shots, Abdulmutalleb sipping coffee
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Safa Abdulmutalleb, Sudanese Refugee:
“The war was extremely scary. The children have not gotten over what they experienced, and now we are trying to make them forget it all.”
24. Close up, Abdulmutalleb’s son looking on
25. Wide shot, Abdulmutalleb and her husband talking to Clements
26. Wide shot, truck transporting new arrivals to transit centre
27. Various shots, women and children disembarking
28. Various shots, UNHCR bus dropping new arrivals at transit centre
12 APRIL 2024, RENK, UPPER NILE STATE SOUTH SUDAN
29. Various shots, people waiting to board barge at port
30. Various shots, Clements speaking to South Sudanese returnee, Teresa Michael
31. Various shots, people in barge waiting to be transported to Malakal
32. Pan right to luggage in barge
33. SOUNDBITE (English) Kelly T. Clements, Deputy United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“We, UNHCR, the UN refugee agency and partners are working around the clock to try to provide assistance to those new arrivals, those returnees, those refugees, trying to ensure that the host community here can support the many pressures that are upon them. But this is an aid effort that needs to continue, and we need to be looking at this effort as not just one of emergency response but thinking about solutions already. Where can people go, where they can start rebuilding their lives. They can start taking care of their families that have been just through traumatic incidents, but until we see peace in Sudan, we will be here in South Sudan to be able to support this country, its people, and importantly, the returnees and the refugees that depend on them for protection and aid.”
13 APRIL 2024, RENK, UPPER NILE STATE SOUTH SUDAN
34. Med shot, family seated outside communal shelter
35. Various shots, family seated near bed/ woman on bed
36. Wide shot, clothes hanging near shelters
37. Wide shot, people near shelter
38. Wide shot, woman entering shelter
39. Wide shot, children playing
40. Various shots, families near temporary shelter
One year since war broke out in Sudan, South Sudan has received about 640,000 people seeking safety, including refugees and South Sudanese returnees, most of them returning home after many years.
Millions of people have been forced to flee in search of safety and humanitarian assistance, causing one of the largest and most challenging humanitarian and displacement crises in the world.
Over 1.8 million people have crossed borders to find safety in neighbouring countries, namely, the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, South Sudan and Ethiopia.
In South Sudan, about 1,800 people are still arriving every day, increasing pressure on overstretched infrastructure and exacerbating the vast humanitarian needs in the country.
Kelly T. Clements, UNHCR’s Deputy High Commissioner, together with the State Secretary to Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade of Sweden, Diana Janse, were on a four-day visit to the country recently, where they met Sudanese refugees as well as returnees, who spoke about the challenges they’ve faced escaping conflict at home.
SOUNDBITE (English) Kelly T. Clements, Deputy United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“I am in Renk, in South Sudan, this is a place that has seen 530,000 people come through the border from Sudan and over 635,000 people in total, new arrivals to this country after war broke out a year ago. This is a community that has welcomed refugees from Sudan, but also welcomed those South Sudanese returning to their country after many, many years away.”
The delegation also inspected UNHCR and partners’ response activities at the Renk Transit Centre (TC), where the current population exceeds four times the planned capacity.
Most arrivals to South Sudan have entered the country via the Joda-Wunthou border crossing point, close to the town of Renk, and are accommodated at the transit centre.
Safa Abdulmutalleb arrived in Renk last December, with her husband and two children. They travelled from Khartoum to the border for one month, before crossing into South Sudan.
SOUNDBITE (English) Safa Abdulmutalleb, Sudanese Refugee:
“It was very, very difficult. For a long period, we were hiding under our beds, no food, no water, no help. The bombs came from all sides. Especially where we lived, it was extremely difficult as we were surrounded by army bases and Military Industrial complexes.”
The family decided to flee Sudan, after armed men stormed their house, beat them up and carried away all their household goods.
SOUNDBITE (English) Safa Abdulmutalleb, Sudanese Refugee:
“The war was extremely scary. The children have not gotten over what they experienced, and now we are trying to make them forget it all.”
The upcoming rainy season is expected to halt onward transportation of Sudanese refugees to camps in Maban and returnees to various locations in the country, as well as disrupt numerous deliveries of humanitarian assistance.
SOUNDBITE (English) Kelly T. Clements, Deputy United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“We, UNHCR, the UN refugee agency and partners are working around the clock to try to provide assistance to those new arrivals, those returnees, those refugees, trying to ensure that the host community here can support the many pressures that are upon them. But this is an aid effort that needs to continue, and we need to be looking at this effort as not just one of emergency response but thinking about solutions already. Where can people go, where they can start rebuilding their lives. They can start taking care of their families that have been just through traumatic incidents, but until we see peace in Sudan, we will be here in South Sudan to be able to support this country, its people, and importantly, the returnees and the refugees that depend on them for protection and aid.”
Despite the magnitude of this crisis, funding remains critically low. UNHCR has received only 18 percent of the $284.5 million required for its response in South Sudan in 2024. The lack of funding threatens aid deliveries, exacerbating the region’s dire humanitarian crisis.
