ReliefWeb

Crisis Overview

• Violence broke out in Juba on 15 December 2013 between government and opposition forces and quickly spread to other locations in South Sudan. Nearly eight months later, the situation is still tense, violence is ongoing and the humanitarian situation is deteriorating, with high levels of food insecurity and humanitarian agencies warning of the possibility of famine.

• As of 1 August, more than 1.5 million people have been displaced since the outbreak of violence. Of these, 1,136,000 people are internally displaced within South Sudan, and 435,710 have fled to the neighbouring countries. South Sudan also hosts 242,239 refugees from other countries.

• The current rainy season (which runs from June to September) is having a severe negative impact on the humanitarian situation, including the spread of diseases (cholera is of particular concern), impeding access for humanitarian actors, as well as flooding of IDP camps.

Key Findings

Anticipated scope and scale

• More than 1.5 million people have been displaced by the violence since mid-December 2013.

• The Integrated Food Security Phase Categorization (IPC) has predicted that more than 3.9 million people in South Sudan (34% of population), would face emergency or crisis levels (IPC Phase 4 or 3) of food insecurity between June and August. There are warnings of a possible famine.

• As of 1 August, 5,499 cases of cholera (including 119 deaths) had been reported in South Sudan since mid April. The most affected states are Eastern and Central Equatoria.

• The humanitarian situation is not expected to improve.

Priorities for humanitarian intervention

• Food: assistance to those in emergency or crisis levels.

• Health: Containment of cholera outbreak; medical treatment of the affected; adequate safe drinking water to reduce exposure and spread of disease; monitoring of the cholera situation.

• Nutrition: More than 1 million children under the age of five will require treatment for acute malnutrition in 2014. An estimated 50,000 children are at risk of dying from malnutrition without the adequate humanitarian assistance.