The United Nations refugee agency on Friday said it needs 11 million dollars specifically to operationalise and scale up activities in return areas of South Sudan.
Arafat Jama, UNHCR Representative in South Sudan, and ad interim UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, said it includes bolstering staff presence and strengthening border monitoring.
The agency said it required financial resources to sustain current aid efforts, respond to future situational changes including supporting sustainable return as well as consolidate development gains.
Jama said in a statement issued to mark 10 years of South Sudan independence, “our operation in South Sudan has received only 38 per cent of the 224 million dollars required this year.’’
According to Jama, while UNHCR is not promoting or facilitating refugee returns at this time, its providing assistance to those that have chosen to return to help them start afresh.
He said efforts to implement the national peace process had encouraged some 375,000 South Sudanese refugees to voluntarily return since November 2017.
Conflict broke out in South Sudan in late 2013, undoing hard-won gains made since independence and ushering in a vicious cycle of inter-communal conflict and a dire humanitarian situation, UNHCR said.
It said more than 2.2 million people were forced to flee to neighboring countries in the region, mainly in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Uganda, adding that the internal and refugee displacement make South Sudan the largest displacement crisis in Africa.
UNHCR’s most recent report on displacement trends released in June placed South Sudan among the top five refugee-producing countries globally.
It said another 1.6 million had been internally displaced within South Sudan and cut off from education, livelihood, and protection.
The UN said some 7.2 million people or 60 per cent of the country’s population had been estimated to be acutely food insecure, making the country one of the worst food and nutrition crises globally.
“Yet, even with its challenges, South Sudan has opened its doors to generously host 320,000 refugees mainly from Sudan. Over the past decade, the nation has lurched from hope to strife and back again,” UNHCR said.
The UN refugee agency said urgent and strategic action from humanitarian agencies, development partners and peace building actors was needed to help returnees and the communities.
This according to the agency is to enable returnees to settle and live in safety and dignity, with greater security and prosperity. (Xinhua/NAN)
