Lack of rain and continuous fear of airstrikes have driven more farmers from Buram Locality in Nuba Mountain to Yida Camp in Unity State of South Sudan.

According to a farmer who arrived to Yida Camp last week, cultivation this season was impossible because of insufficient rain and fear of Sudan Armed Forces air strikes.  “When you go to your farm, the Antonov drops the bomb on the farmer,” she said.

Buram, which is under control of SPLA-North, lies directly north of Lake Jau and south of Kadugli Locality.

The farmer in Yida said that the situation in her home area was very bad, noting that there was no rain and no harvest this season. She told Radio Tamazuj that the people there are suffering from serious hunger and have no help from anywhere.

“Hunger in the area may drive all people away in the near future,” she predicted.

The Buram woman also noted that there is no clean water, and people depend on the limited hafir (reservoir) water, which is not even clean. She added that lack of seeds is another problem.

Butros Omer Kafia, Executive Director of Buram Locality, reported that citizens in the area are facing shortage of water and poor sanitation. 

“Citizens here are affected by shortage of water, poor sanitation and lack of education,” he told Radio Tamazuj in Buram. “Water is a big problem: out of 70 boreholes, only 3 are functioning in Buram Locality,” he said. 

The local official also emphasized that the citizens of the area have no access to medication due to the ongoing war between the SAF and the SPLA-N. “Due to the war nothing is getting to us in terms of drugs, and that is why we have no medicine for people here,” he explained.

There are five health centers in Buram area but none of them have drugs. People of Buram move as far as Kauda looking for medical treatment. The means of transporting patients is the traditional way of carrying them on a bed. Sometimes they die on the way.

“Many of the citizens from here are taking refuge in Yida, because of the worsening humanitarian conditions,” said Butros Omer.

Yida Camp now hosts more than 60,000 refugees. International aid organizations working in the camp include Samaritan’s Purse, Doctor’s Without Borders and the Agency for Technicial Cooperation and Development.

Photo by Radio Tamazuj: Displaced people from Katcha and Tess north of Buram town flee toward Yida in South Sudan, 22 October 2012