UN: South Sudan Fuelling “Refugee Exodus” Into Uganda and Region
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) calls for immediate response to South Sudan refugee situation since it is fuelling a “refugee exodus” to neighbouring countries including Uganda.
The UN agency appeals for $658million to respond to the growing refugee crisis which is expected to be at 715,000 refugees by the end of the year.
Speaking to the press on Friday, the UNHCR spokesperson, Melissa Fleming said the humanitarian situation is worsening day by day and needs immediate attention.
She also warned that the situation is fuelling a “refugee exodus” into Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda at a much higher rate than initially anticipated.
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“The figure of more than 715,000 more than doubles the number of refugees envisaged when we launched our original appeal in March,” she said.
In March, when the refugee population was forecast at 340,000, UNHCR requested $371 million.
“If the amount does not increase urgently, the consequences could be drastic and will include food shortages, worsening sanitary conditions, and heightened risk of disease,” she said.
In Uganda, the number of refugees from South Sudan is at 118,423.
Ms Fleming said many of the refugees arriving in Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Sudan are in a terrible state, “They are exhausted, traumatized by what they’ve fled and by the difficult journey to safety, malnourished and in very poor health.”
An extremely high number of refugee arrivals are women and children- as high as 94 per cent in Ethiopia- and are particularly vulnerable. There are some 14,000 unaccompanied and separated children and currently, there are some 400,000 refugees from South Sudan in Ethiopia (158,164), Uganda (118,423), Sudan (82,000) and Kenya (41,115).
She said the revised response plan aims to provide life-saving aid in the forms of food, nutrition support, health, water and sanitation, hygiene and shelter assistance.
Other priorities include ensuring that the camps and settlements are safe and contributing to reports of human rights violations inside South Sudan.