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South Sudan + 6 more

South Sudan Situation Supplementary Appeal January - December 2016 (July 2016)

Attachments

INTRODUCTION

Since December 2013, some 745,000 South Sudanese have fled to neighbouring countries, including the Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda. They joined some 120,000 South Sudanese refugees who remained in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda after the 20-year civil war with "north" Sudan, as well as an estimated 350,000 South Sudanese who remained in Sudan after the secession of South Sudan in 2011.

Despite the signing of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development-brokered Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan in August 2015, and the subsequent formation of the Transitional Government of National Unity in South Sudan at the end of May 2016, population outflows into neighbouring countries continue.

By the end of May 2016, there were 867,239 South Sudanese refugees in the sub-region and the number continues to increase on a daily basis, including more than 125,000 refugees who have fled to neighbouring countries in 2016 alone. It is anticipated that there will be an additional 106,000 refugees who will arrive by the end of the year, bringing the total projected number of new arrivals in 2016 to some 231,000. In view of the ongoing crisis in South Sudan and taking into account the current trends, the overall number of refugees in neighbouring countries is thus expected to reach close to 1 million by the end of the year.

At the same time, there are some 1.69 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in South Sudan. A combination of factors, including fighting in previously-peaceful areas of Eastern Equatoria and Western Bahrl el Gazl, food insecurity in Northern Bahr El Ghazal, Warrap States and Western Equatoria, in addition to severe humanitarian funding shortages for basic services, continue to worsen the situation for many civilians.

The 2016 Regional Refugee Response Plan (Regional RRP) for the South Sudan situation, issued in December 2015, is funded at 17 per cent, and underfunding is severely challenging the delivery of life-saving services. Subsequent to the release of a revised 2016 Regional RRP, which will be officially launched in mid-July to reflect updated planning figures and detail the protection and life-saving needs of new arrivals in the CAR, DRC, South Sudan and Uganda, UNHCR is presenting its updated planned response to the South Sudan emergency from January to December 2016 in this supplementary appeal.

This appeal thus outlines UNHCR's response to the needs of South Sudanese refugees in host countries, as well as a limited number of IDPs and other refugee populations hosted in South Sudan, including Sudanese refugees, urban refugees and people at risk of statelessness. The revised response will enable UNHCR to boost its interventions to address the most critical operational gaps identified in the six asylum countries of the CAR, DRC, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda, as well as in South Sudan itself. At the same time, Ethiopia, which had anticipated a greater number of South Sudanese refugees in 2016, received a much lower number of new arrivals and has adjusted down its budget accordingly, as reflected in the revised Regional RRP and this supplementary appeal.

The additional financial requirements requested in this supplementary appeal would enable UNHCR and partners to maintain life-saving and life-sustaining assistance for refugees and address the needs of some 106,000 South Sudanese new arrivals in the CAR, DRC, Sudan and Uganda, as foreseen in the revised planning targets for 2016. Priority will be given to the delivery of core protection activities and essential life-saving assistance. No additional requirements are presented in this appeal for Ethiopia, Kenya or South Sudan. However, the needs in these countries as outlined in UNHCR's operational plans and presented in the Global Appeal remain valid and urgent. Overall, critical unmet needs remain across all of the sectors, affecting the living conditions of refugees, and the quality and sustainability of assistance and services.

UNHCR is monitoring the situation in Juba and that of people of concern following the eruption of violence in early July. While no adjustments to the response have been made as of the time of drafting this appeal, UNHCR has stepped up border monitoring and emergency preparedness efforts in neighbouring countries and will update its response plan for the South Sudan situation as required.