CHURCH WORLD SERVICE: EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROGRAM
CWS EMERGENCY APPEAL: SUDAN - KURMUK ASSISTANCE FOR IDPs
Appeal #6454 for $25,000
August 13, 2002


SITUATION: Twelve thousand internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kurmuk
county in South Blue Nile, southern Sudan, desperately need food.

This is due to a combination of factors such as the ongoing war between
the Sudan government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), and
the successive military offensives in each of the last four years. The
Southern Blue Nile Region is a hotly contested area and has changed hands
between the government of Sudan and the SPLA on several occasions during
the last 19 years of the Sudan civil war. The area is strategically
important for both the SPLA and the government because of its proximity to
the Damazin hydroelectric project and the Khor Adar oilfields. Extensive
gold deposits also make it potentially rich in other respects.

In May the government of Sudan launched an offensive on the town of Geizan
and its surroundings and in June it dropped 16 bombs in Yabus village
where Church Ecumenical Action in Sudan (CEAS), a CWS partner, has an
office.  This led to a displacement of thousands of people in the
surrounding areas. Apart from the need for food, non-food items and
medical care, there is also a need for seeds and tools, as well as for
water. The IDPs are not living in camps, but are interspersed with local
population for security reasons.


RESPONSE: CWS is responding through CEAS, which is distributing food,
sorghum seeds and tools. The area of the proposed intervention is
predominantly a Muslim area where the Sudanese church is weak. CEAS works
in partnership with a local NGO called Relief Organisation of Fazugli
(ROOF) which has been working with CEAS since 1999. Currently, CEAS and
ROOF collaborate in the implementation of a number of development
activities including food security, education, water and women's
activities.  Completion date for the project is Oct. 31, 2002.

The goal of the project is to provide immediate humanitarian emergency
food aid to alleviate the suffering of the IDPs from Geizan and Bokori
Payams who are currently displaced in the Keli Payam region. The specific
objective is to provide food to 12,000 IDPs for the coming three months,
as well as provide seeds and tools to the IDP and local population. Food
distribution will include 32 tons of beans; eight tons of cooking oil and
two tons of salt. CEAS has already distributed five tons of locally
purchased sorghum seeds and more seeds are being sourced locally for
distribution with locally made tools as part of an on-going food security
program.

The total being asked of the Action by Churches Together (ACT)
International network is $111,880, which includes $34,629 for beans, oil,
salt and seeds and $57,373 for material transport, storage, warehousing
and handling.

This CWS-ERP appeal is for $25,000. For more specific information,
including budget information, contact CWS ERP. Or go to the ACT web site:
www.act-intl.org


Call the CWS HOTLINE for updates: (800) 297-1516.

For further information about disasters to which Church World Service
is responding, contact CWS Emergency Response.

Telephone: (212) 870-3151
E-mail: donnajderr@aol.com
After-hours emergency pager: (800) 780-0853
Web site: www.cwserp.org


distributed by
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comments/suggestions/requests to incident@cidi.org