EU announces 82 million to boost South Sudan aid

JUBA, MARCH 30, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – European Union on Wednesday announced the contribution of 82 million Euros to boast South Sudan Humanitarian aid.

The allocation comes at a time when an estimated 9.4 million people are projected to be of humanitarian assistance this year.

Addressing reporters in a press conference held in Juba on Wednesday, Michael A. Koehler, Deputy Director-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) said the money will primarily address the issue of food security as well as the needs of displaced persons, disaster preparedness, and education in emergencies.

“The Republic of South Sudan will receive perhaps what I could call lion share, one of the most important parts of this amount, 82 million Euros in grant money, so we are speaking about donation, we are not speaking about the loan, we are speaking about grant money for humanitarian purposes,” said Michael.

He said the European Union has just also made 350 million U.S. dollars available for the Great Horn of Africa region to also address the humanitarian crisis.

“This 82 million for this year alone is our humanitarian aid contribution makes European Union the second most important humanitarian partner and actor in the country and that means in other words whenever you see project here or whenever you see United Nations agencies acting like WPF for example, you can be sure there is European money in whatever they are doing,” said Michael.

Last year, UN agencies launched the 2023 humanitarian response for South Sudan totaling 1.7 billion U.S. dollars, but only 488.6 million dollars have been secured so far.

An estimated 9.4 million people, a staggering 76 percent of South Sudan’s population, will have humanitarian or protection needs in 2023 which presents an increase of half a million people compared to 2022.