South Sudan is now hosting over half a million refugees, UN says

JUBA – The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced on Friday that South Sudan is now hosting more than half a million refugees across 30 locations in the country, mainly in refugee camps in Maban, Upper Nile State, Jamjang, Ruweng Administrative Area, Wedweil, Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, and Gorom in Central Equatoria State.

According to UNHCR, the number of refugees and asylum-seekers currently in South Sudan is 500,220.

“The refugee population in South Sudan has almost doubled in less than 18 months and we expect worse to come,” Marie-Hélène Verney, UNHCR’s Representative in South Sudan, said in a statement on Friday. “The conflict in Sudan is hitting South Sudan harder than any other country in the region and adds to the immense challenges the nation is facing.”

Verney said that UNHCR and other humanitarian actors have been on the frontline of the humanitarian response and are now calling for others to join efforts to help South Sudan integrate the hundreds of thousands who have arrived.

“It is clear, however, that the only solution is the end of the conflict in Sudan,” added Verney. “South Sudan is reeling from the shock and cannot continue to absorb so much suffering.”

Fueled by ongoing conflict in Sudan, the number of refugees in South Sudan has almost doubled since 2023, underscoring the growing impact of the crisis across the region. South Sudan has received the second largest number of people fleeing Sudan, with more than 810,000 people having arrived since April 2023.

More than half of all refugees in South Sudan are currently hosted in Maban County, and another 135,000 refugees are living in the Ruweng Administrative Area.

However, a growing number of people who are newly arriving are opting to settle in urban areas, presenting both opportunities and challenges for integration within local economies and communities.

“2024 has posed unprecedented challenges for South Sudan. The ongoing crisis in Sudan has severely disrupted supply routes and oil exports, raising inflation and further weakening the economy,” he said.

“Prices of essentials including food have skyrocketed, limiting available resources in host communities, and making it extremely challenging to integrate new arrivals,” he added.

UNHCR, together with South Sudan’s Commission for Refugees Affairs under the Ministry of Interior, and other partners, continue to support new arrivals and the local communities receiving them.

“Stronger international support for durable solutions such as resettlement is also crucial,” said Verney.

“While funding for South Sudan remains generous, resources to fully meet people’s needs are still significantly low. As of October 2024, UNHCR activities in the country were only 47 per cent funded. We continue to appeal for more donor support for the response,” he added.

Prior to April 2023, South Sudan was already home to 275,000 refugees, most of whom were from Sudan and had arrived over a decade ago.

This critical milestone comes at a time when approximately 2 million South Sudanese are internally displaced, and three quarters of the total population requires urgent humanitarian assistance.