Empty vessels make the most noise- Humanitarian diaries Part 2

 

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An almost palpable sense of relief  fills the vehicle as you smoothly veer off-road and start approaching Gumuruk village. The 'to' part in 'to- and- fro' is almost done, we`ll worry about the 'fro' after a few hours when we start preparing to head back to Pibor, for now we`re good, and for that we`re glad. As the time goes just past midday, and after a quick mental calculation, it dawns on us that we have just under three hours to do the 6- 7 hours worth of work we have planned for. We cannot afford to leave at 5pm as originally anticipated during a pre- travel table- top planning session as we`ll need to give an allowance of 3 hours for the return trip if we`re to get back to base before dark and assuming we face the same challenges we did on the way to Gumuruk. We will need to start off latest at 1500hrs. The sight of an unmistakable old rusty shell of a sports utility vehicle (SUV) we passed on the left side lingers on my mind. The loudness of the noise it has imprinted on my mind so deafening that it leaves me with many unanswered questions. Will I ever be able to unsee this image? What`s its story? There surely is something that happened on the day that now rusty vehicle reached it`s current state of inertia some few months or years ago. 

Conflict comes in many ways and forms, 

a crude definition would state it as a serious disagreement or argument which typically is protracted. It is a competitive or opposing action of incompatibilities: an antagonistic state or action which in most cases is a struggle for power, property, etc (Marriam- Webster). Within the context of Jonglei State, armed violence normally occurs on 2 levels. Firstly, armed violence involving community- based militias, secondly age- set fighting among male warriors from within the same community based on which age group they fall into. A  March 2021 joint report by the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the UN Human Rights office of the high commission (OHCHR) documents armed violence involving community- based militias in Greater Jonglei (January- August 2020). The main tribes within this region are the Dinka, the Nuer and the Murle tribes, which within the 8 month review period had conflicts among each other resulting in over 1058 documented casualties, abductions of over 650 women and children with reported rape and various forms of sexual harassment and cattle raids of over 80 thousand cattle with an estimated value of over USD 30 million. Other major impacts of these conflicts include looting, destruction of property and infrastructure, human fatalities and community displacements.  

News that warriors from a certain tribe are approaching a particular village spreads fast. Such wind always has the connotation of an imminent attack, which sends women and children hurriedly packing, often with enough time to just grab a few personal belongings that can be carried  for the long walk of several kilometers either to the next safe village, or to the county town center where refuge can be sought within the vicinity of the UN Mission, the county government offices and uniformed forces, etc. It wasn`t long on that fateful day in May 2021 before security information started trickling in with updates on the thousands of people, mostly women, children and the elderly that had started marching towards Pibor town, fleeing from the danger of the 5 thousand or so warriors from the attacking tribe that were marching on Gumuruk to launch an attack. The brief interview on Sky news a day or two priorly when they had visited the Pibor Primary Health Care Centre (PHCC) in which our Nutritional stabilization center was located highlighted the importance of our work in the region, the continued need for our services and those of many other organizations, both national and international providing life- saving aid to the target beneficiaries, as well as continued need for support from the international community.

Today would be one of those days when you`d either "sleep awake", or go to sleep with both ears and one eye open just in case the next security update would be a call for immediate relocation to the UN compound next door pending evacuation in the event of escalation of security risks. Having prepared our quick run bags and taken to our floor beds in the tents waiting for further updates on the Gumuruk situation, I could not help but think about our clinic in Gumuruk. 

We had just finished setting up and stocking up the clinic with pre- positioned medical supplies, sundries and consumables for the next 3 months ready to open up and start providing primary healthcare services in the next few days. Hearsay always precedes official communication, whispers on the Gumuruk situation started filtering through, the attackers had descended on Gumuruk village 20 km away from the location of our camp in Pibor town, the displaced community of women, children and the elderly from Gumuruk had started arriving in Pibor having spent the night walking under the cover of darkness, Gumuruk had been taken over, cattle raids had started, looting and destruction of infrastructure, food and storage facilities, all health and nutritional facilities (ours and those being run by other organizations), food Rubb hall were burnt down to ashes. It would be just a matter of time before we would know what fate would have in store for us over the coming period (story for another day). 

The influx of the displaced community from Gumuruk 

which had come in in thousands literally overnight was a cause for concern as it meant another problem of resources in Pibor town. A sudden increase within any community whether due to refugees or internally displaced people/ populations always results in logistical issues of resources including shelter, food, clean potable water, other essential non- food items (NFI), security, health and nutritional services. It is during times like these that collaborative efforts between the host government (at all levels from local, county, state and national level), the United Nations through the Cluster System  coordinated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs UN OCHA, national and international organizations, other stakeholders and  civic organizations need to be strengthened to provide a quick response to situations unfolding on the ground. The pictures of the now empty, burnt down medicine cabinets, buildings, vehicle shells and many other physical objects or remains tell a loud story, a sad story of something that happened once upon a time, a story of conflict, disruption of the social construct, a story of a community somewhere that needs support and assistance. Yes, it is these empty vessels and shells that make the most noise, a noise we cannot and should not ignore.  

Author. Dr Phanuel Tawanda Gwinji