Summarized Report on Returnees` Situation & WFP Activities in Renk County

Date: 15th-July, 2012

Introduction

Dear Friends, I would like to register on behalf of Renk Diocese and all the community of  the ECS acknowledgment and appreciation for the high support of the Diocese of Chicago and our friends at Tyndale House Foundation. Knowing that ECS-Renk Diocese has a unit for development helps returnees through WFP (World Food Program).

ECS-Renk Development and Relief Agency (ECS-REDRA) is a non-governmental international, non-profit, non-political organization, officially registered with the government of the Republic of South Sudan, since 2010.

> Cooperating with WFP in providing services for the implementation of General Food Distribution (GFD), Blanket Supplementary Feeding Programme (BSFP), Targeted Supplementary Feeding Programme (TSFP), Institutional Feeding Programme (IFP), and Food For Education (FFE) for a total of 16,186, beneficiaries and a total of 683.18.Mt(?) of food as described in approved proposal submitted by the ECS-REDRA partner to WFP for the period from April-December, 2012.

> Cooperating with the Fellowship of the African Relief (FAR) in the Livelihood and Food Security Project that was designed to targeting the small Farmers and vulnerable groups in Melut County.

> Also previously had a strong partnership with Christian Aid Organization in the area of Education and Development and Risk Reduction areas of which a considerable number of projects have been implemented within the period of (2009 -2010)

Returnees Statistics in Renk County

In addition to the already existing (17,700) returnees stranded in Renk County, which are located temporally in 3 resettlement camps around Renk town, such as, Abayok, Mina, and Payueer, there is a new influx of returnees from Khartoum and Kosti that had started their arrivals in Renk from early of March, 2012 until the date of this report. (July 15)

However, it is worth mentioning that after all routes leading to South Sudan from north Sudan have been closed down due to the arms disputes along the border, the fact is that made the road between Renk and Kosti the only path where all the returnees and their repatriations operations were executed by the IOM and other working partners going through Renk as a transit way station.

 The number is estimated to be around (4,000) returnees divided into the above three resettlement camps. The following table shows the camps and their populations:

Camps in Renk

Location/Camp	Number of People	Remarks
Abayok	12,905	Mixed population but main destination UNS, NBeG & Jonglei
Mina	8,637	Located at the river front. Mixed population but main destination Unity, Warrap, CES, UNS
Agany	873	Population mainly for greater Upper Nile/Malakal
Payuer	1,7304	Population mainly destined to greater NBG.
Total	24,419	This includes some 2,300 due  to leave shortly by barge & boat

With the subtraction of those who have been transported by the IOM to their final destinations in South Sudan States, the current remaining returnees’ number in Renk is estimated to be (22,119), divided into the above mentioned camps as well.

Food Distributed since April, 2012.

Below table shows the distributed food to beneficiaries from April-June, 2012

From April-June,2012	Commodities	Units	Mts	Ben.	Location	Remarks
	Wheat	13,548	270.975	31,119	All Camps & Residents
	Sorghum	5,707	114.15
	Lentils	2,697	53.965
	V,Oil	17,786	392.100
	Total	39,738	831.190	31,119	Mina

Barge Transporting People and their luggage’s to Juba

Problems & Challenges.

As mentioned above, the influx of the returnees into Renk County as a transit way station started since April, 2010, and the number of returnees that were transported by IOM to their final destinations in South Sudan was a small number in comparison to the number still stranded in Renk County  up to now.

 And the following problems and challenges have been identified as the main constraints to the transportation of these returnees. Their feeding mechanism is a grave concern.

1.     Lack of transportation facilities in South Sudan

2.     Lack of fuel for the available barges and trucks.

3.     Effects of the rainy season on the process of transportation on land.

4.     Inconsistency of the figures provided by IOM and SRRC.

5.     There is no clear plan for the final completion of transportation of returnees.

6.     The host community is suffering because of many returnees, and they are not getting anything from WFP. We distributed to them some food and medicine, but it is not enough.

Therefore, there is more need of support for the host communities. not just in Renk but also in Melut and Maban

Many Blessings and thank you,

+ Joseph

Bishop Joseph Garang Atem, Diocese of Renk