Sudan conflict forces more than 50,000 people to flee to South Sudan; Majority are South Sudanese returning to unsafe conditions, warns International Rescue Committee

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Caroline Sekyewa, IRC South Sudan Country Director, said:

“Following intense conflict in Sudan, more than 50,000 people are estimated to have fled to South Sudan since the fighting began. People are arriving traumatized and with very little provisions. The IRC is providing protection and health services to displaced people in Maban,Jamjang and NBeG”.

There are fears that the situation is likely to exacerbate the worrying humanitarian situation where an estimated 9.4 million people in South Sudan are projected to need humanitarian assistance and protection services as per the South Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan 2023

The broader plan led by the United Nations and IRC is scaling up response with mobile health teams,  protection and planning to give cash to respond to these growing critical needs. What is needed most is additional financial support and enhanced coordination to ensure a people-centered principled response that will positively impact displaced people who have gone through very traumatizing events.

The IRC started working in South Sudan in 1989. With more than 900 full-time staff members, the IRC in South Sudan provides critical primary and reproductive health and nutrition, environmental health, protection and economic recovery and resilience services to increasingly vulnerable internally displaced persons, refugees, returnees, and host communities. The IRC in South Sudan partners with national and state authorities and local partners to strengthen health systems and support especially displaced populations to obtain durable solutions.

The IRC has a main office in Khartoum with four field offices in El-Gadarif, Blue Nile, Al Jazeera and South Kordofan states. Currently, all operations are suspended except for IRC operations in El-Gadarif. In Sudan, the IRC supports people impacted by conflict and crisis, including women, children, the elderly, persons with disabilities, refugees, mixed populations and host communities. We provide an integrated health, nutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) program and also provide child protection services and comprehensive women and girls’ protection and empowerment services including to gender-based violence (GBV) survivors.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Rescue Committee.