Britain urges Sudan and South Sudan to co-operate over resettlement

Britain has urged Sudan and South Sudan to work together to clarify the status of hundreds of thousands of people caught in limbo as they move between both countries after the republic' s declaration of independence. More than 700,000 southerners living in Sudan lost their Sudanese nationality at the time of secession and were given nine months to "regularise their status". But, so far, neither country has decided what that means in practice. Amid the confusion, thousands of people have tried to make their way south, but more than 12,000 are stranded in the town of Kosti waiting for safe passage across the border. They have abandoned their homes, jobs, and all but the belongings they can carry, to travel hundreds of miles to build a new life in South Sudan. After visiting Kosti this week, the international development minister, Stephen O'Brien, said: "What I saw in Kosti was the very real human face of the ongoing problems between Sudan and South Sudan … Many have given up their homes and jobs to start a new life in South Sudan. They have been waiting for months with little money, food and shelter, and are using their precious savings, if they had any at all, to provide for their families' basic needs." O'Brien urged both governments to help end the suffering of their own people and urgently agree flexible arrangements for citizenship that allow free movement between the two countries. "It is critical that they find ways forward on this, and other outstanding issues, to enable Sudanese and South Sudanese alike to move forward with their lives and contribute to the establishment of two peaceful and prosperous nations," said the minister. Aid agencies have criticised South Sudan for launching a campaign last year encouraging approximately 1.5 million southerners living in the north to vote in the January referendum on independence. International donors and NGOs thought the campaign to be politically motivated and did not endorse it. The process of resettlement has been chaotic, with severe bottlenecks at transit sites and way stations. The UK Department for International Development (DfID) says people have been forced to live in makeshift shelters with little access to food and water as they wait an average of 108 days for a barge to take them down the Nile, the only safe route to South Sudan. Barge numbers are limited because there is only one company that supplies boats capable of transporting southerners on the long journey in a humane way – with toilets, water and medical supplies on board. At current rates, says DfID, it is logistically impossible to transport the estimated 300,000 southerners who will wish to go to South Sudan before the April deadline; it took 12 months for 350,000 to return between October 2010 and 2011.