UN says $356 million needed to respond to humanitarian crisis in South Sudan
Humanitarian agencies require 356 million U.S dollars in funding to be able to respond to the worsening humanitarian crisis exacerbated by the influx of returnees and refugees from neighboring Sudan.
Visiting United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi, said this urgent funding is needed to allow humanitarian agencies to continue till December to provide relief assistance to vulnerable people fleeing conflict in Sudan.
“We are now appealing for one billion dollars from September till the end of December for countries that are receiving Sudanese refugees, the amount we are appealing for South Sudan is 356 million dollars,” Grandi said during press conference held at Pyramid Hotel in Juba.
Grandi spoke after concluding his three-day itinerary to South Sudan that is now hosting more than 200,000 people who fled ongoing fighting in Sudan since outbreak on April 15.
He said humanitarian organizations are encountering logistical challenges due to lack of roads and the remoteness of certain places where those in need of assistance are found.
In May 2023, South Sudan’s government through it’s finance ministry contributed 15 million dollars to the World Food Programme (WFP) to support humanitarian response activities to the worsening humanitarian situation at it’s border with Sudan.
Marie-Helene Verney, the country representative for UNHCR, said people fleeing conflict in Sudan are arriving more malnourished and sick.
“What we are seeing is that they are coming from Sudan and obviously they are more malnourished, some of them are sick. The longer the conflict goes on in Sudan, the more the needs they have,” she said.
Verney noted that they are transporting daily about 2,000 people on barges along the Nile River from Renk to Malakal town of Upper Nile state.
