The number of South Sudanese fleeing their homes is “alarming,”
the United Nations refugee agency today said, announcing that 1.6
million people have either been displaced or fled to neighbouring
countries in the past eight months ago.
“A famine produced by the vicious combination of fighting and
drought is now driving the world's fastest growing refugee
crisis,” the spokesperson for the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Babar
Baloch, told journalists
at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
He added that “the rate of new displacement is alarming,
representing an impossible burden on a region that is
significantly poorer and which is fast running short of resources
to cope.”
Refugees from South Sudan are crossing the borders to the
neighbouring countries. The majority of them go to Uganda where
new arrivals spiked from 2,000 per day to 6,000 per day in
February, and currently average more than 2,800 people per day.
“The situation is now critical,” said Mr. Baloch, warning that
recent rains are making the humanitarian situation more
difficult.
The UN agency is reiterating its calls for financial support. Aid
for South Sudanese refugees is only eight per cent funded at
$781.8 million, and UNHCR's funding appeal for Uganda urgently
needs $267 million.
The situation in Uganda is a “first and major test” of the
commitments made at the Summit for Refugees and Migrants last
September, the spokesperson said.
One of the main achievements of the Summit was to create a
refugee response framework that integrates humanitarian and
development efforts. This translates into giving refugees land
and allowing them to access job markets, for example.
The situation of refugees in Uganda could impact how the UN and
humanitarian partners are working to support national authorities
in the other neighbouring countries – the Central African
Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya
and Sudan.
“No neighbouring country is immune,” said Mr. Baloch.
