Refleksi: Agaknya berita tentang referendum di Sudan tidak menjadi perhatian bagi media cetak maupun electronik di Indonesia. Hal ini mungkin dikuatirkan berita dan analisannya menjadi pedoman pembuka mata dan pikiran bagi rakyat banyak daerah yang ditinggalkan oleh kemerdekaan yang tidak membawa perubahan dan perbaikan mendasar dalam kehidupan mereka selama ini dan begitu pun di hari depan di bawah kekuasaan lalim.
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article230436.ece South Sudanese 'returnees' coming back to a state in limbo Pro-separation activists hold signs and chant pro-independence slogans outside the Juba airport. (AP) By MICHAEL GRUBB | THE MEDIA LINE Published: Jan 6, 2011 22:05 Updated: Jan 6, 2011 22:05 KHARTOUM: Tens of thousands of South Sudanese "returnees," coming to vote in the long-awaited referendum on creating what could be Africa's newest state, are proving to be a heavy burden on the government and aid organizations. "They are coming to a region that is already facing a critical humanitarian environment," Yussuf Hassan, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) regional spokesman for East Africa, told The Media Line from Juba, South Sudan. Voting begins on Jan. 9 and will last for about a week as close to four million south Sudanese cast their ballots in a referendum to secede from Sudan. The voting culminates the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended one of Africa 's longest and most lethal civil wars. It is widely believed that the crucial referendum will result in a vote to separate. Yet both sides were posturing in an effort to avoid a renewed outbreak of violence. In a speech to South Sudanese parliamentarians in Juba days before the vote gets under way, Sudanese President Omar Bashir urged people to vote for unity. However, striking a conciliatory tone, he said his government would accept any outcome of the referendum. "Unity is a channel for power, security, advancement and change in the Sudan. But if the southerners decide to separate, well and good," Bashir said. "Anything you need in terms of technical, logistical or professional support from Khartoum, you will find us ready to give it. We shall also consider the new state in the south and I will accept it." "While I remain committed to unity as an option, I will be the first to recognize your independence if you opt for it," Bashir added. "We want to show the world that we are civilized people and are ready to disappoint those who are speculating about division and conflict." In August, the South Sudanese government announced a plan to bring back 1.5 million southerners in the run-up to the referendum. A huge number of southerners have heeded the call of return, straining an already insufficient infrastructure and aid community. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), some 92,000 people of southern origin, many of them displaced during decades of civil war, had crossed from north to south between October and December 22. Larger numbers were streaming into the country after that date, it said. "We are talking about 100,000 people," said Hassan of the UNHCR said. "Even if they were put into a big city like London or New York they would put a strain on the infrastructure, let alone a critically underdeveloped region like Southern Sudan." In a country already facing dire shortages of food, clean water, health care and sanitation, the unexpectedly large influx of people has exceeded the ability of aid organizations to provide for the basic needs of many.. According to the UNHCR, many of those coming from north to south were arriving in major southern cities by bus, without any means of completing the journey to their area of origin. The returnees have thus ended up in a state of limbo, settled in makeshift camps on the outskirts of the cities and waiting for basic services, including water and emergency health services. The emergence of the makeshift camps could have long term consequences, according to Giovanni Bosco, head of the Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Southern Sudan. "Establishing a formal camp means that people become used to the assistance that is given in the camp, (which) creates resistance to the closure and elimination of these camps," Giovanni said in an interview with Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN). "It can take years to close a camp and to do a proper resettlement with durable solutions." The South Sudan government has no plan in place for dealing with the current influx of people. Daniel Gar, the Northern Bahr al Ghazal State official in charge of facilitating the arrival of returnees through the government's Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, told the IRIN that the government had little more to offer the returnees than plots of land. "We are asking for the support of the UN agencies and aid groups," Gar said Hassan, spokesman for the UNHCR said many of those returning from the north were coming from urban areas, and would rather start up a new life in urban areas in the south. "The majority of people coming back aren't likely to end up in rural villages, many of them would rather be in urban centers where that can continue with their livelihood, though the policy of the authorities is for them to return to rural areas where they can be absorbed and supported. I think this is the most constructive and stable approach to this problem," Hassan said. Nine out of 10 southern Sudanese live on less than $1 a day, and according to the UN, and one in seven women who become pregnant die of complications. In a country the size of Texas, there exists only 30 miles of paved roads. The International Rescue Committee along with the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other aid agencies have been stepping up assistance for the newly displaced. "Amid all the international deb ate about various scenarios and the referendum's outcome, there has been a stunning lack of attention to the current and long-term protection and humanitarian needs of vulnerable civilians," said Susan Purdin of the International Rescue Committee. "We have an unfolding humanitarian crisis, layered on top of an existing and forsaken one," Purdin, the IRC's country director in Southern Sudan, said in a statement. Reached in Juba, Purdin told The Media Line that there was a potential for mass displacement and upsurge in political and ethnic violence amid the larger scale humanitarian emergency. During the 1983-2005 civil war, the Christian and animist population of the south fought the primarily Arab Muslim population of the north. The conflict led to the displacement of millions of people and the deaths of two million, primarily from starvation. A peace agreement was reached between the two sides in 2005, which gave autonomy for the South, and put the region on the path to independence. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
