Fighting in Sudan's key border states is creating a humanitarian disaster that is only likely to get worse, according to a medical charity and recent testimony by United States officials. Some 80,000 refugees have fled Sudan's Blue Nile State into South Sudan, which is woefully unable to care for the people, experts say. Many thousands more are internally displaced and need help.
In the neighbouring region of South Kordofan, hundreds of thousands have lost their homes, US aid officials say. "Since last June, this conflict has created an enormous humanitarian emergency," according to Princeton Lyman, Washington's top envoy to Sudan and South Sudan. South Sudan peacefully broke away from Sudan last year after decades of civil war, but the separation has not ended the conflict.
Militias allegedly allied with South Sudan are fighting the Sudanese military, which is conducting aerial bombing raids and other attacks. People in the heart of the conflict areas simply have little to survive on. UN experts warn the border states could soon see "famine-like" conditions.
"Sudan continues to prevent aid from reaching the many civilian Sudanese who are desperately in need," said Nancy Lindborg of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). According to medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF/Doctors without Borders), which is working in two refugee camps in northern South Sudan, time to help people is running out.
From next month, when the rainy season starts, bringing aid to the Doro and Jamam refugee camps will become increasingly complicated, as South Sudan lacks basic infrastructure such as a proper road network. "More and more people are arriving. Some are coming on foot, seeking refuge in those camps. People just continue to come and there is no sign people will stop coming," said Julien Matter, MSF's emergency co-ordinator.
"People tell us they must walk for six days by foot to reach the camps. Water is not available en route, so they must carry some with them," explained Matter by telephone. Water is a major problem in the camps, which are located in a remote and dry region. Many refuges survive on just several litres of water a day, while international standards suggest a minimum of 15 to 20 litres of water are needed every day for drinking, cooking and washing purposes.
Aid agencies say food must now be stockpiled so that people will have what to eat in the coming months. MSF is trying to set up clinics on high ground ahead of the changing weather. "It is already a logistical nightmare and it will get even harder when the rains come. The challenges we face now in delivering humanitarian aid will be even more difficult in a month," said Matter.
For Sudan and South Sudan, the violence comes on top of other severe problems. Since their split, the two governments cannot decide on a mechanism for sharing oil revenue. The south, which took two-thirds of the reserves, must export its oil through pipelines that run into the north.
After Khartoum began to seize shipments, saying it had not been paid for using the pipelines, Juba decided to go on strike and cut all exports. For the new country, which relies almost entirely on oil revenue for its budget, it is a drastic move. Khartoum's economy too is reeling from the loss of oil profits. The fighting in the border states is an extension of another key problem: the two sides have yet to define their maps.
The fate of three key oil-rich regions is still up in the air, as referendums on whether they would join the south or stay in the north never took place. South Sudan is also seeing an eruption of ethnic violence, forcing a wave of refugees to flood into Ethiopia. The government is now trying to disarm tribal militias in Jonglei State, the most populous and volatile area of the southern nation.
Actor and activist George Clooney took part in a recent debate at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington after returning from a trip to Sudan. He urged an end to "war crimes" being committed by Khartoum's forces Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is already wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity allegedly carried out in the restive Darfur region, where rebels are still taking up arms against the government.
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