By William Madouk
The Council of Ministers has approved one billion South Sudanese pounds as humanitarian response funds to support returnees and refugees fleeing the Sudan unrest.
This comes after the Minister of Finance and Planning, Dier Tong Ngor on Friday 28th April 2023, informed the cabinet that he has released SSP one billion to humanitarian Affairs docket to enable swift response to dire humanitarian situation of the evacuees.
Addressing the media after council of ministers’ meeting Friday, Minister of Information, Michael Makuei Lueth said the cabinet agreed to release first payment of the funds to Humanitarian Affairs ministry.
“The minister of finance has informed us that he has released SSP 1 billion to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs as the first payment so that they start with and then later will continue to pay them” said Makuei who is also the government spokesman.
“This was the report, and all these reports were appreciated and passed by the cabinet” he added.
He also said the cabinet directed the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs to exert more efforts and involve all stakeholders concerned to take up the processes and serve people who are in dire humanitarian needs.
Mr. Makuei further noted that the cabinet has agreed that all humanitarian efforts should be channeled through the ministry concern.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs & Disaster Management, Mr. Albino Akol Atak said the country, based on the projected average will be receiving 6,000 refugees and returnees on daily basis through 12 entry points.
“According to him (Abino Akol), about 880,000 are expected to be in South Sudan and these are the people we are preparing for so that we can address their situation” Makuei noted.
Minister Makuei stressed that according to a report from humanitarian affairs, about 4,000 returnees have entered the country plus an estimate of 10,000 non- South Sudanese in both Paloch and Renk.
He added that they are planning to transport into the country a group of refugees and returnees who are now stranded in Joda and Kosti of Sudan.
Makuei echoed that those returnees will be temporary decamped before they would be ferried to their respective states to avoid creating another IDPs camp.
“There will be a set-up transit camps where by they will be identified and from there, they will be transported to their respective areas (states) instead of creating another IDPs camps in South Sudan,” he echoed.
Recently, authorities in Upper Nile state waved red flag of a potentially far deeper humanitarian crisis as people fleeing Sudan conflict continue to enter in hundreds and thousands in some parts of the state.
Press secretary in the office of the Upper Nile state governor, William Ronyo stated that the authority has received yet again more than 2,000 refugees in Paloch airport, who are now in‘dire’ situation.
Authorities in Renk County documented an estimated figure of over 9,000 South Sudanese returnees and refugees from the region to have entered Renk, and are in urgent need of assistance.
Meanwhile, state government spokesperson in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, William Anyuon Kuol, said the state has so far received 556 refugees in Aweil North County.
The sudden eruption of violence between the military and the well-armed Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group on 15 April triggered a humanitarian crisis that has so far killed 427 people, UN agencies said.
Fighter jets have bombed the capital, the main airport has been at the center of fighting and artillery barrages have made movement unsafe in and out of one of the Africa’s largest cities.
Despite sustained pressure from countries concerned by the conflict’s wider repercussions as well as the safety of their nationals, the two sides have not abided by a temporary truce.
But, fighting calmed enough over the weekend for the United States to get its embassy staff out by military helicopter, triggering a rush of evacuations by other countries.
Sudan hosts 800,000 South Sudanese refugees who have fled long-running conflicts there. South Sudan gained its independence from its northern neighbor in 2011.
More than 2 million people are also internally displaced within South Sudan, where civil war from 2013 to 2018 resulted in an estimated 400,000 deaths.