South Sudan seeks $1.7 billion to tackle humanitarian needs

JUBA, OCTOBER 5, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – South Sudan is urgently seeking $1.7 billion to meet the humanitarian needs for over 300,000 people fleeing the ongoing Sudan conflict.

Speaking during a press conference held in Juba on Thursday, Albino Akol Atak minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management said since the outbreak of hostilities in Sudan in April this year, over 300,000 people have crossed into South Sudan.

“Humanitarian response in the country needs 1.7 billion US dollars, now 297,044 individuals have already arrived, and the government has approved another 10 million US dollars for response to this crisis of influx,” Akol said.

The senior government official said the world’s youngest country has released recently $5.3 million to meet the needs of vulnerable people, but said the amount is not enough to meet soaring humanitarian needs in the country.

“When we plan for a three-month response, the government approved 5.3 million US dollars which we up to date used 3 million, and when we renewed our plan to cover up to December, the government approved another 10 million dollars,” he said.

Akol said the number of new arrivals surged significantly in recent days worsening the already dire humanitarian situation in the world’s youngest nation.

“The situation has worsened because of the new arrivals including the large number of returnees and refugees in the country, this includes 91 percent South Sudanese, 8 percent are refugees from Sudan, the rest include third-country nationals, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda and others,” he said.

The minister said the funds will help provide transportation assistance to those without means so that they can reach their final destinations by road, river, or air.

“From the figure,144,110 have been transported, government transportation is roughly 39, 428. In about 67 flights from Paloch, Malakal, and Renk to various places, our partners transported 74,259 individuals, about 20 percent have been transporting themselves and about 6900 were assisted by their embassies,” he said.

“Generally, the humanitarian situation in the country is still dire, it needs a lot of effort to be done, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs with its partners have been dealing with the needs of 9.4 million people who are in dire need of humanitarian support,” he added.

Sudan descended into violence last April after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked several positions of the Sudanese government army.

The conflict has displaced millions of citizens with hundreds of thousands including South Sudanese who were seeking refugee in Sudan going to South Sudan.