By Bida Elly David
South Sudan is at the barge of facing serious humanitarian crisis as the total number of returnees and refugees leaving Sudan due to the brutal conflict continues to rise doubling the current population camping in the Country.
The minister of humanitarian affairs and disaster management on Wednesday predicted serious humanitarian difficulties that the government will face following the large influx of the refugees and returnees to the Country noting that through partners, provision of relief will be exercised.
“The humanitarian situation in the Country will be a bit difficult for us to meet but with the help of our partners and the government of South Sudan we are ready to intervene because we have already a plan of emergency. The commissioner of Renk has managed to allocate some places for Refugees. We are allocating places for refugees who don’t know where they are going,” he said
According to him, South Sudan is currently hosting over 9 Million people of different categories consisting of IDPs displaced from various parts of the Country, refugees from the neighboring Countries and returnees.
He further stated that South Sudan has so far registered over 800 Sudanese refugees and 300 migrants to be hosted in the Country as registration is ongoing amid new influx.
“For this year 2023 alone, those people who are in need of humanitarian assistance are in huge number. Let us talk about 9.4 Million people divided into four categories consisting of the IDPs who are almost 2 Million, returnees who returned voluntarily home from the neighboring Countries, the host communities,” he said
About 2.3 million South Sudanese refugees are still being hosted in the neighboring Countries of Uganda, Kenya and DRC with the hope of returning back home noting there be need for government and partners to increase relief.
Albino said that with the current conflict in the Sudan, there will be a double increase in the statistics of the refugees and returnees that will partly affect government in fighting towards provision of humanitarian services at all levels.
“These categories in terms our humanitarian is in need. If you now add this (Sudan) conflict, definitely it will be more or it will increase because the 9.4 million we have been talking about excludes our refugees in the neighboring Countries,” he noted
However, Minister Albino did not mention the exact statistics of the refugees and returnees they received from Sudan following the crisis and how many are anticipated to arrive.