Bor IDPs desperate to escape harsh life in the camp
Internally displaced persons in Bor, Jonglei State, have said they still leave in fear for their safety despite the government’s call for reconciliation in the country.
Last month, President Salva Kiir launched nationwide public consultations for the establishment of a Commission of Truth, Reconciliation, and Healing to ensure lasting peace and stability.
However, a 44-year-old IDP, Elizabeth Joseph—who has lived in the UN-run Protection of Civilians Site in Bor since December 2013—says she and her children have decided to stay in the camp till they are convinced of their safety returning home.
The mother of three boys and three girls says she plans to return to her home village in Fangak, but the deteriorating living conditions in the camp and the volatile security situation back home will not allow her to make an easy decision.
“As you know, people live (in the camp) in only one place; it is like you are living in the prison because you don’t run your normal activities like other people residing outside the camp. “We are here for protection,” Elizabeth says.
She stresses that the level of teaching in the schools within the camp is very poor compared to those operating outside.
“We don’t have high schools, and even the teachers that are teaching are not enough.” We don’t even have good health care either, “she adds.
Elizabeth says, “this situation is for the whole South Sudan, not only in Bor’’, and there is a need for ‘‘the government to expedite the graduation of the unified forces.”
Plans to go home
Elizabeth plans to go home and produce food for her family after the World Food Program cut the food rations for the IDPs in the camp. However,
her plans have not worked due to the insecurity in parts of the country.
A 51-year-old IDP, Nyang Tut, who has been living in the Bor camp for the last nine years, says he wants to return home with his family, but he has nowhere to resettle.
He says his home in Bor town has been occupied by someone since he fled the conflict in 2013.
Tut urges the parties to the 2018 Revitalised Peace Agreement to speed up the full implementation of key provisions in the deal, including Chapter Five on transitional justice, accountability, reconciliation, and healing.
“The government of South Sudan should quickly graduate the forces.” The life that we are living here in the IDP camp is not favorable and the reason why we are living here is that the security situation is not yet stable,” Tut says.
The leader of the IDPs at the Bor IDP camp, John Boath tells The City Review that a few people who attempted to leave the camp returned shortly because they could not find support to rebuild their lives.
Boath says the government is obligated to help the IDPs resettle and find a new life.
“We have the right to go out there and live like other citizens of South Sudan. We don’t have good healthcare facilities here in the camp,” laments John.
He urges the government to implement the revitalised peace agreement in letter and spirit, adding that they should conduct general disarmament.
“The presence of arms in the hands of the civil population is the main cause of insecurity in the country. So, the government should work hard for total peace to prevail in the country, “John says.
