UNHCR seeks $2.7bn for South Sudan

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, and NGO partners, are seeking $2.7bn to address the life-saving humanitarian needs of South Sudanese refugees in 2019 and 2020.

Five years on since the onset of a brutal civil war, over 2.2 million South Sudanese refugees have sought safety in six neighboring countries: Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Central African Republic (CAR).

Another 1.9 million remain internally displaced inside South Sudan.

According to UNHCR, there has been a relative reduction in violence in parts of the country since the signing of the revitalized peace agreement in September 2018, and all parties have been appealed on to continue to respect and implement the agreement, but given a history of past breaches to peace initiatives, it does not yet view the current environment in South Sudan as being conducive for safe returns of refugees.

It also commended the continued generosity of host countries in maintaining open borders for South Sudanese refugees seeking safety, especially given the immense pressures on the limited resources of asylum countries.