By Aweye Teddy Onam
South Sudan ministry of humanitarian affairs and disaster management has received another $10 million for humanitarian interventions.
Minister Albino Akol Atak disclosed on Thursday that the money would be used for transporting refugees and returnees from transit centers to resettlement areas.
The minister noted that the government and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) took on the responsibility of transporting returnees from neighboring Sudan to avoid congestion in the transit centers.
“Since the eruption of Sudan’s war until October 3, 2023, the total arrival of the returnees is now 300,000 people, of which 91% are South Sudanese and the rest are refugees from Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, and Kenya,” Akol disclosed.
He hinted that the region needs to mobilize resources to respond to the crisis, saying delays may affect the whole region, especially the host communities.
He underlined that, due to resource constraints, only about 131,000 people have been moved from the entry sites to their final destination.
Upper Nile State has the largest number of returnees, with 131,000 people, followed by Central Equatoria State with over 45,000 people, Northern Bahr-el Ghazal with over 40,000 people, Jonglei with 12,000, and Western Bahr-el with 10,000 people, with more arrivals daily, raising the expected number to over half a million, according to the minister.
In the last few months, the government has provided $5.3 million to the Humanitarian Affairs docket, and about $2 million has already been spent on onward transportation.
“The government transported over 40,000 people and about 67 flights from Polouch, Malakal, and Reng,” Minister Akol earlier reported.
Sudan has been a major supplier of food and non-food items to the northern region of South Sudan, which has been cut off since the war broke out in mid-April this year, which is now creating a humanitarian catastrophe in the bordering areas.