Humanitarian Minister requests for $1.8 billion to support refugees, returnees

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Albino Akol Atak on Friday appealed for 1.8 billion dollars to help support thousands of refugees and returnees who fled fighting in Sudan since April 15 2023.

By Benjamin Takpiny

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Albino Akol Atak on Friday appealed for 1.8 billion dollars to help support thousands of refugees and returnees who fled fighting in Sudan since April 15 2023.

Akol made the request during a cabinet meeting chaired by President Salva Kiir in Juba.

The Minister of Information, Communication, Technology and Postal Services, Michael Makuei Lueth said that Akol presented a report from April 15, 2023 to January 2,, 2024 on the situation of returnees and refugees which confirmed that South Sudan is home now to more than 465,000 returnees and refugees.

“These are people who are fleeing the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) because they are moving southwards, they have captured Madani and they are moving towards Blue Nile state, so the people have started to flee from there and we are expecting more people to come to our side,” said Makuei while addressing journalists after the cabinet meeting.

 “It is worth mentioning that some of these people are coming in to our side and they are being armed, they are being disarmed at the borders and registered as refugees and those who are South Sudanese are registered and taken to their respective areas or made to stay until they are transported,” he added.

Makuei said that on average 2,000 returnees and refugees are entering South Sudan on daily basis from 21 entry points across the border with Sudan.

He said that the money requested by Minister Akol will be raised by both the government of South Sudan and the international community.

“Of course this amount will not be met by the government of South Sudan alone, we will make an appeal to the international community to come to our support, meanwhile we on our side have already started and we are doing whatever we are doing for that matter,” said Makuei.

“We will raise it by contribution as South Sudanese, we have already been paying. We will also be making an appeal to the international community and to the humanitarian organizations to cover part of it,” he disclosed.

Makuei said that the funds are needed not to only benefit returnees and refugees but also the host communities, adding the influx of refugees and returnees is putting pressure on scarce resources of the host communities.

In November 2023, humanitarian agencies launched a $1.8 billion plan to support six million people in South Sudan in 2024.

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