UNHCR, 123 Partners Appeal for $1.4 bn for South Sudan Refugees

By Al Mayadeen English

29 Mar 2024 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees that South Sudan is still Africa's largest refugee crisis.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR) alongside 123 of its partners appealed on March 28 for $1.4 billion for 2024 to aid more than 2 million refugees from South Sudan in five African countries, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda. 

It added that a Regional Refugee Response Plan will also allow a similar number of people in local communities in these five countries will also benefit from "services and support provided through a Regional Refugee Response Plan."

In a statement posted on its website, the UNHCR said "Since the start of the conflict in South Sudan over 10 years ago, growing humanitarian needs compounded by dire food shortages, continued insecurity, and the impacts of climate change, have kept South Sudanese refugees in exile and prompted new displacement."

The statement added that the four consecutive years of flooding "have also destroyed homes and livelihoods, triggering further cross-border movements."

It stressed that South Sudan is still Africa's "largest refugee crisis" as the war in Sudan has "forced nearly 200,000 South Sudanese to relocate to safer areas within Sudan and hundreds of thousands of others to return to their country prematurely," emphasizing that "remain in need of international protection in the region."

Mamadou Dian Balde, UNHCR’s Regional Director for the East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes region also said “While significant strides and commendable efforts have been made over the last 10 years by partners, this year’s Regional Refugee Response Plan builds on the incremental progress made."

The plan shows that "if given the resources, humanitarian aid combined with investments in resilience - for both refugees and the host communities that welcomed them - will facilitate longer-term solutions," he added. 

35% increase in people affected by violence in South Sudan

The UN mission in South Sudan reported on March 18 that over the last three months of 2023, 233 cases of violence were documented, targeting 862 people out of which 406 were killed, 293 injured, 100 abducted, and 63 victims of sexual violence linked to the conflicts. 

It added that the percentage of those affected by violence in South Sudan has increased by 35% during the last three months of 2023. 

It is noteworthy that acts of violence due to ethnic tensions and conflicts over resources such as land in different parts of the country have increased in recent months, especially in the oil-rich region of Abyei.