South Sudan

Leading United Nations agencies, including the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO), warn that millions of people in the greater Horn of Africa are trapped in an emergency hunger and health crisis driven by overlapping disasters, including climate change and conflict. WHO’s Greater Horn of Africa region includes the seven affected countries of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.

The top United Nations official in South Sudan on Tuesday urged leaders in the east-central African country to accelerate implementation of the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement, including holding elections late next year. Since mid-April 2023, over 117,000 women and children and men have crossed over into South Sudan from Sudan along the border areas. 93 percent of these are South Sudanese returnees.

Acute food insecurity is set to increase in magnitude and severity in 18 hunger hotspots comprising a total of 22 countries, a new UN early warning report has found. The analysis issued Monday by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) calls for urgent humanitarian action to save lives and livelihoods and prevent starvation and death in countries where acute hunger is at a high risk of worsening from June to November 2023.

The shooting deaths of two drivers with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in South Sudan last week underscored the country’s status as one of the deadliest for aid workers. But aid workers say help is needed now more than ever as the UN estimates 9.4 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2023.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) says the number of civilians harmed across South Sudan in 2022 has slightly increased, despite a 27 percent decrease in the overall number of documented violent incidents compared to the previous year. On Friday, the mission's Human Rights Division released its annual report on violence affecting civilians, documenting 3,469 civilian victims affected mostly by killing, injury, abduction, and conflict-related sexual violence.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a Grade 3 Emergency Appeal for the Greater Horn of Africa region on Friday. The United Nations organization is asking for USD 178 million (EUR 167 million) to carry out urgent, life-saving health work in 2023 to help the Greater Horn region. WHO’s Greater Horn of Africa region includes the seven affected countries of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.

An estimated 30,000 people have been reportedly displaced following violent clashes by armed groups in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area of South Sudan. Both the country's humanitarian community and the international community are calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says in a statement released today that on 24 December armed young men from Jonglei State attacked communities in parts of the Greater Pibor Area.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has expressed concern over the escalation of armed conflict in South Sudan's Upper Nile state, which has displaced at least 20,000 people since August, some of whom have been forced to flee for their lives up to four times. In a statement Wednesday, the UN agency warned that at least 3,000 people have already fled to neighboring Sudan, further exacerbating the refugee crisis in South Sudan, the largest in Africa.

Hunger and malnutrition are on the rise across the flood, drought, and conflict-affected areas of South Sudan, the United Nations (UN) warns. In a joint statement Thursday, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that some communities are likely to face starvation if humanitarian assistance is not sustained and climate adaptation measures are not scaled-up.