The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Tuesday that over 165,000 people have fled increasing tensions and conflict in South Sudan in the past three months, seeking safety both within the country and across borders, thereby deepening an already dire humanitarian situation across the region. With more than 2.3 million South Sudanese living as refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Sudan, South Sudan remains one of the largest displacement crises in Africa.
“South Sudan cannot afford yet another crisis. The world’s youngest country has received more than one million people who fled the ongoing war in Sudan, while millions of its citizens continue to recover from years of conflict and crisis at home,” said Mamadou Dian Balde, UNHCR’s Regional Director for East Africa, Horn of Africa and Great Lakes Region.
Since late February, political instability and rising hostilities between armed groups have led to fresh clashes, particularly in Upper Nile State but also in other areas, devastating lives and damaging essential services. This has forced many people, who are already grappling with displacement, diseases and food insecurity, to flee once more.
Some 100,000 people seeking safety in neighboring countries have cited insecurity, intercommunal violence and deteriorating humanitarian conditions as the main reasons for fleeing.
South Sudan is facing one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises and one of the worst humanitarian prospects since its independence in 2011. Some 9.3 million people — around half of whom are children — require humanitarian assistance, and 7.7 million are experiencing acute food insecurity.
Nearly 2.1 million children under the age of five are at risk of malnutrition. Of those, 650,000 are suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and require urgent medical attention.
The ongoing war in neighboring Sudan is fueling instability and exacerbating the humanitarian emergency in South Sudan. Humanitarian agencies are stretching their limited resources to support over 1.1 million refugees and returnees who have fled the conflict in Sudan since April 2023 and are now hosted in South Sudan.
The sharp deterioration in the country's political and security situation since February threatens to undermine the peace progress made thus far and plunge the country back into war. Tensions have been heightened by internal conflict, particularly between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those aligned with Vice President Riek Machar.
“The peace process, a process we have all invested in, now hangs by a thread,” said Ismail Wais, the Special Envoy for South Sudan for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), speaking during consultations on the current crisis held in the capital Juba on Tuesday.
“The ceasefire, the backbone of the peace agreement, has been violated as continued attacks and clashes between peace partners threaten to plunge the nation back into full-scale war.”
The conflict escalation between the two sides can be traced back to Upper Nile State, where the standoff between the two main signatories of the peace agreement has escalated into open military conflict. The violence that has swept the state since mid-February has escalated tensions nationwide, resulting in dozens of casualties from armed clashes and aerial bombardments.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) have either been removed from official positions, detained, or forced into hiding. Since March 26, Vice President Machar has been under house arrest in Juba.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, fighting and movement restrictions in Upper Nile State and other areas have significantly constrained humanitarian access to an estimated 65,000 newly internally displaced people (IDPs) in affected communities.
UNHCR warns that desperately needed aid, including medicine and healthcare to address the increase in cholera cases, has come to a halt. Looming rains are likely to exacerbate the situation, with flooding making transport problematic and costly.
Meanwhile, neighboring countries are struggling to cope as resources such as food, water, sanitation, shelter, and healthcare run dry while they continue to welcome new arrivals.
Around 41,000 people have crossed into Sudan's White Nile, Blue Nile, Kordofan, and Darfur states. Of these, over 26,000 have crossed into White Nile State alone. This state already hosts some 410,000 South Sudanese refugees, including individuals displaced for a second time due to the ongoing war in their host country.
The influx has increased the need for additional space to accommodate new arrivals, while essential services remain severely strained amid cholera outbreaks and a fragile security situation.
In Ethiopia, new arrivals had been living in makeshift shelters along the riverbanks in the border town of Burbiey in the Gambella region. They are now receiving assistance in Matar and Moun, farther from the border.
UNHCR, the UN World Food Program (WFP), and other aid agencies have assisted over 21,000 new arrivals with food and relief items. However, thousands more are in need. The infrastructure and services in the Gambella region are already overwhelmed amid a cholera outbreak.
Uganda hosts the largest population of South Sudanese refugees in Africa, totaling 1 million. Since March, it has received nearly 18,000 South Sudanese refugees, marking a 135 percent year-on-year increase. Nearly 70 percent of those arriving are children who are taking increasingly long and dangerous routes to reach safety.
Despite grappling with its own ongoing conflict and a major displacement crisis, the DRC has received an estimated 23,000 new arrivals from South Sudan due to recent violence and tensions.
In countries where refugees are seeking asylum, the UNHCR and its partners are providing essential relief supplies, including sleeping materials and hygiene kits, to new arrivals. The UN agency requires US$ 36 million to support up to 343,000 IDPs in South Sudan and refugees arriving in neighboring countries over the next six months.
“This emergency could not have come at a worse time. Many of the refugees are seeking safety in countries which have challenges of their own or are already dealing with emergencies amidst ongoing brutal funding cuts, straining our ability to provide even basic life-saving assistance,” Balde said.
“We reiterate calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and urge all parties to spare civilians more suffering and find a peaceful solution.”
In a separate development, on Tuesday the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) expressed deep concern about the escalating intercommunal violence in South Sudan's Warrap State. This violence has caused hundreds of deaths, destroyed homes, and led to widespread displacement. UNMISS urged the South Sudanese government to intervene and deploy security services to address the situation.
Since December 2024, Tonj East in Warrap State has witnessed a series of violent incidents, including cattle raids and retaliatory attacks involving large groups of armed youths from neighboring communities. More than 200 people are estimated to have died in the intercommunal conflict in March alone.
There has been another surge of violence over the past few days, driven by attempts to recover stolen cattle and avenge previous losses of life. This has resulted in more than 80 casualties, though these numbers are still unconfirmed.
UNMISS stated that the Mission is actively engaging with state and local leaders to calm the situation and has increased its peacekeeping patrols. However, peacekeepers are facing significant challenges in reaching some of the affected areas due to the proliferation of checkpoints manned by armed youths.
“Urgent intervention is needed from the national Government to prevent the conflict from escalating to catastrophic levels and to bring communities together to peacefully resolve grievances,” said Guang Cong, deputy head of UNMISS.
“While UNMISS is doing its utmost to deter further mobilization and conflict, the Government is primarily responsible for protecting civilians and we, therefore, encourage the Government to rapidly deploy security services to prevent further violence and create a safe environment for community dialogue and peacebuilding.”