The country
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 and is the world’s newest independent nation. The country is located in East-Central Africa, bordering Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic. Its capital is Juba. South Sudan covers a land area of 644,329 square kilometers. As of 2024, the country has an estimated population of around 12.4 million people.
The humanitarian situation
South Sudan is in the midst of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis driven by years of brutal civil war. Nearly 400,000 South Sudanese died as a result of the conflict that began in December 2013. Atrocities and attacks on civilians, including widespread sexual violence, defined the civil war. Half of South Sudan's population is facing crisis or worse levels of hunger and in need of urgent humanitarian aid. Extensive flooding, violence and disease outbreak continue to impact people across the country.
With 4.3 million people forcibly displaced, South Sudan has the highest proportion - one third - of its population displaced of any country in Africa. More than 2.3 million people have fled to neighboring countries. Most of them are now in Uganda, which hosts 1 million South Sudanese refugees. 2 million people are internally displaced. 700,000 people were fresh displaced in 2021, another 600,000 in 2022, 337,000 due to conflict and violence. In addition, South Sudan hosts some 337,000 refugees and asylum-seekers.
Continued insecurity across Upper Nile State is still forcing tens of thousands of civilians to flee their homes. The situation is compounded by the war in Sudan, which has led to more than 623,000 people fleeing across the border to South Sudan. The war in the neighboring country, which erupted more than eleven months ago, has profound regional implications.
According to humanitarian sources, aid agencies working in South Sudan are stretched to capacity as there is already not enough food, clean water, sanitation facilities, shelter, healthcare, or protection services in transit centers, existing displacement sites, refugee settlements and host communities into which vulnerable people from Sudan are arriving. Humanitarian organizations in South Sudan have called for urgent funding to ensure continued support for onward transportation for people fleeing the Sudan conflict to South Sudan.
Soaring rates of severe malnutrition, acute hunger, and deteriorating health conditions are threatening the lives and well-being of millions of people in the country, with the situation aggravated by weather extremes related to the climate crisis.
South Sudan is facing a major hunger crisis. Between December 2023 and March 2024 some 5.78 million people are expected to experience high levels of acute food insecurity. Of those, 1.7 million people are experiencing emergency conditions and 25,000 women, men and children are facing famine conditions. An estimated 1.65 million children under five are estimated acutely malnourished, including some 480,000 children under five years that are severely acute malnourished and in need of urgent medical care.
Things are expected to get worse. An estimated 7.1 million people in South Sudan will face food insecurity during the lean season from April to July 2024.
South Sudan is also one of the countries badly affected by climate change. Dry spell and flooding contribute to people’s food insecurity situation.
Torrential rains and subsequent flooding across South Sudan in 2022 adversely affected more than 1 million people. The floods displaced tens of thousands, resulted in an unknown number of deaths, and damaged or destroyed agricultural land, houses, health care centers, schools, and water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure across the country. Consecutive years of record flooding have led to widespread displacement, the loss of arable land, and the destruction of livelihoods.
In addition, South Sudan’s women and girls remain at high risk of gender-based violence (GBV).
The UN estimates that 9 million people will be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2024, a slight decrease compared to 2023. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 9.4 million people - three quarters of the population - were in need of humanitarian aid or protection in 2023.
Among those requiring humanitarian aid this year will be 4.9 million children. The humanitarian response in South Sudan will require US$1.8 billion in 2024 to provide humanitarian aid to the 6 million people targeted. The 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for South Sudan is targeting only the most vulnerable children, women, and men, meaning the needs of millions of others will remain unmet as humanitarian operations in South Sudan are severely underfunded. As of March 2024, this year's HRP is 19 percent funded.
As of January 2024, the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for South Sudan, which required $2.1 billion to support 7.4 million people, was only 51 percent funded.
In 2024, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) seeks $1.4 billion to meet the needs of 2.3 million South Sudanese refugees living in five neighboring countries - Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP).
Over the past two years, humanitarian operations for South Sudanese refugees have been severely underfunded. In 2023, only 24 percent of the required funding was received, far short of what is needed to ensure that all South Sudanese refugees can live in dignity. In 2022, only a third of the needs were met.
The security situation
South Sudan has not held a presidential election since independence in 2011. After a power crisis erupted in 2013, South Sudan descended into conflict that has spread across much of the country, killing hundreds of thousands of people. A series of broken peace agreements and putative coalition governments have perpetuated competition between rival militias and a war economy that continues to fuel instability and violence.
An initial peace agreement signed in 2015 failed. After many delays, a revitalized agreement signed in 2018 led to the formation of a Transitional Government of National Unity in February 2020. Progress in implementing the peace agreement has been slow, however, as the parties quarrel over the division of power. Elections have been postponed to December 2024 and the transition period was extended until February 2025.
South Sudan continues to be the one of the most violent context for aid workers in the world. According to the Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD), 34 humanitarian workers were killed in the country in 2023. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says ongoing insecurity and violence against civilians and humanitarian workers affects the delivery of life-saving emergency supplies to people in an already dire situation. The work of humanitarian organizations is further hampered by access restrictions, bureaucratic obstacles, widespread crime, and inter-community violence.
According to United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), the number of civilians affected by violence in South Sudan increased sharply at the end of 2022, compared to both the previous quarter and the same period in 2021. Violence from October to December 2022 was concentrated in Upper Nile, Warrap and Jonglei. The number of civilians harmed increased by 87 percent, compared to the same period in 2021.
UNMISS reports this rise was accompanied by a disturbing increase in abductions and conflict-related sexual violence — which have gone up by 464 percent and 360 percent, respectively, when compared to the previous year. However, the overall number of incidents of violence for the entire 2022 decreased when compared to 2021.
According to UNMISS, in the fourth quarter of 2023, at least 862 civilians were directly affected by violence - 406 killed, 293 injured, 100 abducted, and 63 subjected to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), which represents a 11 percent decrease compared with the same period in 2022, largely due to the overall decline of violence in the Greater Upper Nile region.
However, ongoing fighting in Sudan and the increasing number of civilians crossing into into South Sudan have exacerbated the security and humanitarian situation in the country.
Donations
Your donation for the South Sudan emergency can help United Nations agencies, international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their local partners to rapidly provide water, food, medicine, shelter and other aid to the people who need it most.
- UN Crisis Relief: South Sudan Crisis
https://crisisrelief.un.org/south-sudan-crisis - World Food Programme: South Sudan emergency
https://www.wfp.org/emergencies/south-sudan-emergency - UNHCR: South Sudan emergency
https://www.unhcr.org/south-sudan-emergency.html - Oxfam International: Hunger crisis in South Sudan
https://www.oxfam.org/en/what-we-do/emergencies/hunger-crisis-south-sudan - International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC): South Sudan
https://www.icrc.org/en/where-we-work/africa/south-sudan
To find other organizations to which you can donate, visit: Humanitarian Crisis Relief, Refugees and IDPs, Children in Need, Hunger and Food Insecurity, Medical Humanitarian Aid, Vulnerable Groups, Faith-Based Humanitarian Organizations, and Human Rights Organizations.
Further information
- UN OCHA: South Sudan
https://www.unocha.org/south-sudan - ACAPS: South Sudan
https://www.acaps.org/country/south-sudan/crisis/complex-crisis - Concern Worldwide: The South Sudan crisis explained
https://www.concernusa.org/story/south-sudan-crisis-explained/ - European Commission: European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations: South Sudan
https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/where/africa/south-sudan_en - Global Conflict Tracker: Civil War in South Sudan
https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/civil-war-south-sudan - International Crisis Group (ICG): South Sudan
https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/south-sudan - United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS)
https://unmiss.unmissions.org/ - Human Rights Watch: World Report 2024: South Sudan
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2024/country-chapters/south-sudan
Last updated: 30/03/2024