Fleeing death and falling into indignity

There is no reason that justifies the inhumane conditions in which many displaced persons live in South Sudan

An elder falls into the mud at the camp for displaced people in Malakal, South Sudan. © Albert González Farran – Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

Malakal, a town with great economic potential few years ago in South Sudan, is now a sad and desolate place because of the civil war. And the worst part is for tens of thousands of displaced people (IDP) living in a camp which often does not have guarantees for a dignified life.

The rainy season is worsening a life that was already difficult. “A camp is not a hotel,” some people say. But it should not be a place where children play with a mixture of mud, excrements and urine, where dead dogs lay among people, where elders and disabled slip and fall repeatedly and where malaria and cholera are a constant threat.

Many IDPs are now leaving the camp and migrating to Sudan, the neighbouring country. It’s happening not because life is difficult in Malakal, but because they feel their protection is not even guaranteed. And then, in the Western countries, we complain about the constant arrival of refugees…