Sudanese nomads who returned to Sennar State after fleeing fighting in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State are reporting challenges finding enough water and accessing education and other basic services.

The Sennar governor identified Kokari and Turus villages as resettlement sites for the returned pastoralists and farmer labourers. These areas are about 30 kilometres from Mazmum town.

Abdel Azim Ahmed El Faki, a farmer in Sennar, told Radio Tamazuj on Friday that the returnees were lacking basic services in the two villages where they were temporally accommodated by the government.

He complained that the state authorities had refused to demarcate plots for them, since it was only a temporary settlement site, and also allegedly intimidated them with arms.

“The farmers and herders requested two model villages equipped with a clean water network, schools and heath facility, but up till now the government does not want to say anything on the matter,” he explained.

He claimed the government has a responsibility to take care of them because they were affected by the conflict in South Sudan.

“The returnees are now living in open areas at Turus and Kokari villages without any water, medical care or education for their children, " El Faki said. 

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