South Sudan crisis

People in South Sudan’s Pibor county are forced to survive on wild vegetables, and desert dates as the number of people dying from starvation rises. With torrential rains halting aid flights, the situation could get much worse quickly, warned Oxfam today.  

Reacting to the outcome of the International Humanitarian Conference for Sudan and its neighbours, held in Paris today, at which countries pledged a total of $2 billion – Oxfam in Africa Director Fati N’Zi Hassane said: “It is morally incomprehensible that Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan – among the world's most fragile states –bear the brunt of Sudan’s conflict while the richest nations slack.   

The influx of over half a million people fleeing Sudan’s conflict meant that transit centers in Renk – a border town in neighboring South Sudan- are swelling with people three times their capacity, with more than 300 people sharing one water tap. The lack of clean water and sanitation is increasing the risk of cholera, warned Oxfam today.  

The world spent yearly an estimated $112 billion on arms imports between 2018-2022, even as 9,000 people die each day from hunger driven primarily by conflict. The top five-arms exporters – the USA, Russia, France, China and Germany - which account for over three-quarters of the global arms trade, together sold an estimated $85 billion worth of arms yearly.  

More than half the population of South Sudan – 6.6 million people – are severely hungry, including 2.2 million people at risk of starvation. Yet the humanitarian response remains woefully underfunded and without an urgent increase in aid now, 7.7 million people or two-thirds of the population will face severe food shortages next year, Oxfam warned today.

The threat of “COVID famines” and widespread extreme hunger are setting off every alarm bell within the international community, but so far sluggish funding of the UN's appeal is hampering humanitarian agencies’ efforts to deliver urgent assistance to people in need.

In reaction to the formation of a new South Sudanese unity government today, Elysia Buchanan, Oxfam South Sudan’s Campaign Manager said: “We welcome this decision as an important first step in South Sudan’s journey towards sustainable peace, but it cannot be the last. The country’s leaders must now work together to urgently end the suffering of 7.5 million South Sudanese facing a dire humanitarian crisis.

Oxfam's new research - Our Search for Peace: Women in South Sudan’s National Peace Processes” - highlights the under-recognized but crucial role South Sudanese women played in the country's most recent national-level peace processes. With less than a month until the country forms a transitional government, South Sudanese women are demanding more leadership roles at all levels of decision making.

Uganda’s open-door policy to refugees has provided protection for one million South Sudanese - the third-largest population of refugees in the world. 

Governments today pledged $352.6 million for refugees at the Uganda Solidarity Summit in Kampala.