The international humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) on Monday called attention to the plight of people fleeing the war in Sudan and to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, as more than 500,000 refugees and returnees have crossed into the neighboring country. Meanwhile, intercommunal violence is affecting the safe delivery of humanitarian aid in the disputed Abyei region following deadly attacks on Saturday and Sunday.
Source: Sultan Mahmood/NRC
"More than 500,000 people have now fled from the war in Sudan to South Sudan. This means that over 30 percent of all the refugees, asylum seekers, and ethnic South Sudanese were forced to flee Sudan since the war exploded in April 2023 for protection in one of the poorest places on earth," said Jan Egeland, NRC Secretary General, in a statement.
According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), more than 528,000 ethnic South Sudanese, Sudanese refugees and people of other nationalities have crossed into South Sudan, since the war erupted. About 80 percent of those fleeing the conflict in Sudan have a South Sudanese nationality.
The NRC noted that ethnic South Sudanese who had crossed the border from Sudan were frequently referred to as "returnees", but in reality, many of them were born in Sudan and had never been in South Sudan, and therefore had no kinship connection in host communities.
"We are appalled by the global inaction as countless defenseless civilians are killed and displaced within and from Sudan. We witness a total disregard for civilian life and heinous atrocities committed by the parties to the conflict," Egeland said.
Nine months after the war erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 15, 2023 in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, about 7.7 million people have been forced to flee their homes, taking refuge inside and outside Sudan.
6.2 million of those displaced are within Sudan, while more than 1.5 million others have fled across borders into neighboring South Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, Egypt, the Central African Republic and Libya. Children represent about half of all people forced to flee.
“The devastating impact of the conflict has spread to surrounding countries where host communities have no capacity to cope with the massive displacement,” Egeland warned.
Most people escaping the violence seek refuge in Chad and South Sudan. Both countries are struggling to cope with the influx. The Sudan crisis has increased the extent of vulnerable people that require assistance. The sustained influx from Sudan – and also Ethiopia - continues to exert heavy pressure on the host communities to share scarce resources.
According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, humanitarian 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 are arriving.
Before the war in Sudan erupted last year, years of conflict have already caused one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises in 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.
In 2024, 9 million people in South Sudan are projected to be in need of some form of humanitarian assistance. Among those requiring humanitarian aid will be 4.9 million children.
According to the 2023 Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) analysis conducted in September-October, a total of 5.83 million people - almost 60 percent of the population - are currently facing crisis (IPC Phase 3) or worse levels of hunger, a figure expected to increase to over 7 million by April 2024.
An estimated 7.1 million people in South Sudan will face food insecurity during the lean season from April to July 2024. According to the latest IPC analysis, 1.6 million children are at risk of malnutrition, of which 480,000 are at risk of severe acute malnutrition (SAM).
"The outside world must better support South Sudan as it shoulders the cost of more than half a million people fleeing conflict. We cannot look away while unspeakable violations are taking place in Sudan and neighboring countries shoulder a burden they cannot bear," the NRC Secretary General said.
The Norwegian Refugee Council called on the parties to the conflict to stop the carnage in Sudan and allow aid organizations to reach all civilians in need.
"And we appeal to the international community to donate generously to help civilians survive wherever they are," Egeland said.
Humanitarian operations in South Sudan are severely underfunded. 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.
The 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) for South Sudan is targeting 6 million of the most vulnerable children, women, and men, meaning the needs of millions of others will remain unmet. The humanitarian response in South Sudan will require US$1.8 billion to provide humanitarian aid to the people targeted.
UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) plan to target people with shock-driven needs, requiring life-saving assistance, such as those impacted by negative climate effects, conflict, and disease outbreaks.
In another development concerning South Sudan, a series of armed attacks over the weekend took place in the Abyei Area, a disputed area between Sudan and South Sudan. The ongoing intercommunal violence caused the deaths of at least 52 civilians as well as the death of two UN peacekeepers from Ghana and Pakistan, while 64 others are reported to be gravely wounded.
UN Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres condemned the violence and attacks against the UN peacekeeping force today through his spokesman, calling on the Governments of South Sudan and Sudan to swiftly investigate the attacks, with the support of the peacekeeping force, and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) has operated in the disputed region along the border between Sudan and South Sudan since 2011. At present, the Abyei region is under the control of South Sudan. UNISFA's mission includes ensuring security, protecting civilians, strengthening the capacity of the Abyei Police Service, and facilitating the flow of humanitarian aid. As of 2023, the mission had about 2,800 personnel deployed.
The attacks in Abyei have affected the delivery of relief aid by humanitarian agencies. Intercommunal violence regularly hampers the distribution of humanitarian aid across the country. South Sudan is known as one of the deadliest places for aid workers worldwide, with at least 34 aid workers killed in 2023.
Further information
Full text: War in Sudan displaces over 500,000 to South Sudan, Statement by Jan Egeland, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Secretary General, on the large-scale displacement from Sudan to South Sudan, NRC, published January 29, 2024
https://www.nrc.no/news/2024/january/sudan-refugees-to-south-sudan/
Full text: UNISFA condemns continuing violence that has led to the death of a second peacekeeper, urgently calls for calm, United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei, press release, published January 29, 2024
https://unisfa.unmissions.org/unisfa-condemns-continuing-violence-has-led-death-second-peacekeeper-urgently-calls-calm