US announces Shs450b aid for S. Sudan refugees, warns warring parties

Pagirinya Refugee settlement in Adjumani, near Uganda’s border with South Sudan is heavily populated yet number continues to increase by the day. The refugees are seeking asylum in Uganda away from the war in South Sudan where sitting president, Salva Kiir is pitted against his former Vice President, Riek Machar, in a power struggle that has sent the world’s youngest nation in turmoil.

According the Refugee Desk Officer (RDO) in charge of Adjumani under the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), an average 1, 500 refugees. Photo by Edgar R Batte

What you need to know:

  • The number of refugees is expected to have clocked the 810,000 mark by the end of 2016
  • The funding is also expected to help feed the hungry, provide nutrition supplements for children suffering from malnutrition, and reunite families separated by the fighting.
  • The latest funding will bring to US$1.9billion the total that the United States government has committed to Southern Sudan since the conflict broke out

KAMPALA

The United States government has announced that it is to provide humanitarian assistance worth $133 million ( more than Shs400 billion) to the people of Southern Sudan.

The package was made public on Thursday by the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Ms Gayle Smith, at what was described as “a high level side event on Southern Sudan” held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

According to a press statement which was issued on Friday by the United States Mission in Kampala, the package is meant for the approximately 2.7 million people who were forced to become either refugees or internally following the outbreak of the recent civil war in Southern Sudan.

Forces loyal to the government headed by Mr Salvar Kiir and his former deputy, Dr Riek Machar, have been fighting since December 2013 when a political power struggle broke out between the two principals.

In his address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, President Yoweri Museveni, revealed that Uganda is home to 690,000 refugees, which makes it the third biggest host of refugees in Africa after Kenya and Ethiopia.

According to Mr Museveni, the number of refugees is expected to have clocked the 810,000 mark by the end of 2016.
The latest violence in South Sudan has pushed some 52, 000 South Sudanese as refugees in Uganda, according to an August 2, 2016 UN refugee agency update, underlining Uganda’s legitimate interest in the evolving situation in the country.

The statement from the mission painted a dire picture of the situation in the Sudan, saying that 40 percent of the population of the country is in need of “life-saving assistance, with some people on the brink of starvation”.

The funding, according to the statement, will boost emergency health services, increase access to clean water and sanitation and provide support to survivors of gender-based violence and help increase access to emergency education for refugee children and build and expand new refugee camps in the region.

The funding is also expected to help feed the hungry, provide nutrition supplements for children suffering from malnutrition, and reunite families separated by the fighting.

The latest funding will bring to US$1.9billion the total that the United States government has committed to Southern Sudan since the conflict broke out.

Warring parties urged
The Unites States government has called for restraint on the part of both sides to the conflict to ensure that aid reaches the people who need it.

“The U.S. demands that all parties stop attacks against civilians, allow humanitarians unrestricted access to those in need throughout South Sudan, and cease violations of international humanitarian law and principles,” the statement read in parts.