Every week, about 3,000 refugees and returnees cross from Sudan into South Sudan. Many arrive hungry and exhausted, with little or no money. The food aid they depend on is running out.
The World Food Programme (WFP) warned that more than one million vulnerable people could lose access to life-saving food and nutrition assistance by October unless more resources are secured. The sign of the squeeze is in Malakal, a key logistics hub in Upper Nile state. At this time last year it held 10,000 metric tonnes of food. It now holds less than 300. The agency said that is not because need has eased, but because humanitarian agencies no longer have the resources they once did.
A border town under strain
Renk, close to the Sudanese border, has become a major entry point for people fleeing the war that erupted in Sudan in April 2023. More than 1.4 million refugees and returnees have crossed since then, according to WFP. Many made journeys marked by checkpoints, extortion and violence.
The transit centres in Renk were not built for these numbers. Families wait there for transport to Malakal or elsewhere, and some stay for months. Zainab Musa, a mother of six who recently crossed, told Al Jazeera: “The humanitarian situation is hard and there is nothing to eat, just hunger.” WFP has had to cut rations and support as funding dried up.
Matthew Hollingworth, WFP’s assistant executive director, visited Renk, Malakal and Pigi county in Jonglei state this month. He told Al Jazeera that the war in Sudan has sent prices much higher because importing goods has become so complicated, and that refugees are arriving in a country already stretched. He also pointed to illegal checkpoints inside South Sudan that stop aid reaching everyone who needs it. In Renk he saw the effects of drought alongside areas still hit by flooding.
Little room to rebuild a life
Peter Maker, displaced in Pigi, said insecurity and the arrival of people from other areas have made farming and finding work difficult. Though able-bodied and qualified to work, he said, he cannot travel safely for opportunities, which leaves his community heavily reliant on the UN and aid. He warned that further cuts or blockages would be devastating.
For Nura Mohammed Ahmed, a Sudanese refugee at the transit centre, the choice is stark: return to war-torn Sudan despite the risks, or die of hunger in South Sudan.
WFP says it faces an immediate $86 million funding gap and a $416 million shortfall over the next six months. Across the country, 7.8 million people, more than half the population, face high levels of acute food shortage, and 2.2 million children are acutely malnourished.
Sources
- South Sudan’s aid crisis deepens as food stocks run low
- South Sudan Faces Deepening Humanitarian Crisis
