The Danish Refugee Council is closely monitoring the situation in South Sudan and has temporarily suspended all aid activities during the election while preparing new interventions for the new returnees. The week-long election began on Sunday 9 January and will determine whether South Sudan should become independent.

The ongoing elections in South Sudan are the first democratic elections since 1986, and were part of the peace agreement reached between North and South Sudan in 2005.

"It is encouraging to see the support for the elections in South Sudan. However, it is too early to predict whether this will lead to the partitioning of Africa's largest country and to independence and progress in South Sudan. The longstanding conflict has created very difficult living conditions for millions of people in Sudan and in the areas hosting refugees from there. Therefore, there have been comprehensive needs for relief and assistance to internally displaced persons in the country and to refugees in the region," says Ann Mary Olsen, head of the international department of the Danish Refugee Council.

The Danish Refugee Council has been present in the region for many years and has worked in support of the Sudanese refugees in Uganda since 1999. The operations were expanded to cover South Sudan after the peace agreement in 2005 made it possible for refugees and internally displaced persons to return home. Relief efforts have focused on ensuring physical and organisational assistance to support the return of refugees and internally displaced and to find lasting solutions to their situation.

"South Sudan is covered by fertile land and has great resources, but suffers from the fact that hardly any development has taken place over decades compared to North Sudan. There is poor infrastructure, lack of access to medical care, education, and work. And there is widespread need to work to ensure protection and various forms of legal assistance," says Ann Mary Olsen, who is frequently visiting areas of operation in South Sudan.

The Danish Refugee Council in cooperation with local communities is further working to develop lasting solutions that will improve livelihoods and living conditions. A large number of farmer associations and agricultural schools have been established in recent years and have created new income opportunities for families who can now cultivate their land and increase food security in several districts in South Sudan.

Around 3.8 million voters are registered for the elections in South Sudan. For the result to be valid, at least 60 percent of the registered voters should cast their ballots. A final outcome of the elections is expected four weeks after the elections have finished.

Background: 20 years of civil war
In 2005, Sudan emerged from a two-decade civil war between the mainly Muslim north and the Animist and Christian south, only to see fighting break out in the western region of Darfur in early 2003. The north-south civil war is said to have cost the lives of 1.5 million people. In Darfur, the UN says more than two million people have fled their homes and over 200,000 have been killed due to direct and indirect consequences of the war.

In January 2005, after two years of bargaining, the southern rebels signed a comprehensive peace deal with the government to end the civil war. Under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in Nairobi, the south was granted limited autonomy and a referendum on full independence by 2011. The accord provides for a high degree of autonomy for the south. The region will also share oil revenue equally with the north.

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