Attachments
Regional Overview
Since the devastating conflict broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in mid-April 2023, the magnitude of displacement within Sudan and into neighbouring countries continues to grow. As the conflict has continued to evolve with constant associated displacement, the Sudan situation is one of the largest protection crises in the world today. By January 2024, 7.8 million people had been forcibly displaced. More than 1.6 million people had arrived in neighbouring countries of the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Sudan including refugees, returnees, and third country nationals, with 6 million newly internally displaced within Sudan.
The relentless fighting in Khartoum, the catastrophic resumption of intercommunal violence in the Darfur region, the rapid advance of the RSF and the spread of the conflict to the Kordofans and other parts of the country have trapped civilians and made many areas inaccessible for desperately needed humanitarian assistance to be safely delivered. December 2023 saw a spike in violence as the RSF took over Wad Madani, the capital of Sudan’s Al Jazirah state, resulting in some 500,000 people fleeing - many of whom had already been displaced several times by the current conflict. Since mid-December 2023, an average of 1,500 daily arrivals of returnees and refugees entered South Sudan through Renk. In Ethiopia, people fleeing Sudan are arriving mainly in the Amhara and Benishangul-Gumuz regions, with the possibility of thousands who have been displaced in Blue Nile state in Sudan crossing into Ethiopia if there is further violence. In Egypt, authorities have started reinforcing infrastructure at Argeen, a key border crossing from Sudan, in anticipation of a possible surge in new arrivals. Meanwhile in Chad and the Central African Republic, arrivals mainly from Darfur have continued. Without a resolution to the conflict, hundreds of thousands more people will continue to flee across international borders in search of safety and assistance.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Sudan “is experiencing a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions.” The widespread fighting has led to shortages of food, water, medicine, fuel and electricity, and has left many civilians without access to essential services. The conflict has disrupted supply chains, restricted humanitarian access and is driving rampant food insecurity. Almost 25 million people, or half of the Sudanese population, are in need of humanitarian assistance. There have been serious violations of International Humanitarian Law including grave child rights violations and gender-based violence (GBV); civilians continue to fall victim to targeted or indiscriminate attacks. Both parties to the conflict have targeted and attacked doctors, journalists, humanitarian workers, activists, human rights defenders and protestors. Displaced persons have faced serious obstacles when seeking to flee to safer areas or across borders, including being prevented from moving, harassment, looting, extortion and violence.
In countries of asylum, the vulnerability of women and girls has been exacerbated by a lack of adequate assistance and limited infrastructure, leading to GBV risks including sexual exploitation at border areas and in camps. Refugee families in countries of asylum are resorting to harmful coping strategies to meet their basic needs. These include selling household assets, reducing the quantity and nutritional value of meals, begging, resorting to the sale or exchange of sex, child and forced marriage, accrual of debt from traders, and withdrawing children from school to engage in child labour to support income-generating activities for the family. Incidents of denial of resources, intimate partner violence and sexual exploitation by community members are also on the rise.
In Sudan, access to healthcare has been critically impacted by the conflict, with direct attacks on health care facilities as well as severe shortages of medicines and vital supplies. Overall, some 65 per cent of the population in Sudan lack access to health care and 70 to 80 per cent of hospitals in conflict-affected areas are no longer functional. The fighting has also caused extensive damage to critical infrastructure, including water, which directly impacts on the health of the population. Conflict, violence and continuing economic decline have driven about 17.7 million people across Sudan (37 per cent of the population) into high levels of acute food insecurity. The conflict has deprived about 12 million children of schooling since April, with the total number of children in Sudan who are out of school reaching 19 million.
According to the World Bank, the economy is expected to contract by 12 per cent in 2023, with the conflict having brought manufacturing to a halt and destroyed human capital and state capacity (in comparison, other recent conflicts such as in Yemen or Syria have seen economies shrink by about 5 per cent per year on average).15 The border regions of the Central African Republic, Chad, and South Sudan are dependent on cross-border trade with Sudan and the conflict has had a substantial economic impact in these countries as well, increasing both the burden on hosting communities and the cost of the humanitarian response.
The 2024 Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP) for the Sudan emergency covers a 12-month period, from January to December. The plan builds on the ongoing response under the 2023 RRP. In 2024:
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To support a comprehensive response, the plan includes some 800,000 Sudanese refugees who were present in the five main neighbouring countries of asylum prior to April 2023.
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The host populations in these five countries are also included in the population planning figures for the 2024 plan, reflecting an integrated approach.
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As in 2023, the plan includes refugee and migrant returnees in Chad and the Central African Republic, while returning migrants in Ethiopia are under a separate IOM plan.
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In South Sudan, returnees are now under the OCHA-coordinated 2024 South Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan.
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Finally, the plan foresees a relatively smaller number of third country nationals arriving in Chad, the Central African Republic, Egypt and South Sudan.
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Throughout the plan, refugee figures are cumulative, while the figures for returnees and third country nationals include only those projected to arrive in 2024.
The 2024 RRP has a focus on resilience programming and engaging development actors in the response. The receiving countries have, for the most part, opened their borders to those seeking safety: these countries need international support to sustain this generosity and fulfilment of international obligations, including from development actors, to accompany the humanitarian response with investments to strengthen infrastructure, basic services and socioeconomic inclusion for refugees, returnees and host communities in integrated settlements and in areas of return.
The population to be assisted by the 82 partners to the 2024 Sudan RRP is close to 2.7 million refugees, returnees, third country nationals and local host communities (up from 1.8 million refugees, returnees and third country nationals planned in 2023), with a financial ask of USD 1.4 billion. However, as the situation remains fluid, the RRP will be revised as required and the inter-agency response adapted in line with developments in the context and needs.
Since the onset of the conflict in Sudan, a small number of Sudanese refugees have been arriving in Uganda, with the numbers steadily increasing over the course of 2023. As of January 2024, some 15,000 new arrivals from Sudan have been received in the country. Most of them have chosen to stay in the city of Kampala (12,697) while a smaller number (2,263) have been registered in the settlements in the Northern Region. The Government of Uganda is providing prima facie refugee recognition to asylum-seekers from Sudan. As of January 2024, the Government requires all Sudanese refugee registration to take place in the Kiryandongo settlement, and those refugees seeking assistance may settle there. Kiryandongo settlement was established in the 1990s and predominately hosts South Sudanese refugees. While there is not a separate chapter or budget from partners for the response in Uganda in the RRP, responding to the new arrivals requires additional capacity, including re-establishing reception facilities, logistical support for relocations, enhancing registration services, core relief items, and hot meals, as well as enhancing access to essential services, including health care, water, and sanitation services.