Sudan hosts second largest numbers of refugees in Africa

January 30, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan is the second last host of refugees in African with the figure estimated at almost 1 million, a new report indicates.

The Sudan Refugee Response Plan (CRP) for January-December 2023 says the country has provided protection for refugees and asylum seekers from South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, Chad, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1965.

Under the co-leadership of the Sudan Commission for Refugees (COR) and United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), the CRP provides strategic guidance to the inter-agency refugee response, lays out the refugee coordination structure and estimates the financial requirements to respond to the identified needs.

“While some refugees, such as the Ethiopians fleeing the conflict in Tigray, arrived recently, others, such as the Eritreans, fled their home country decades ago,” partly reads the latest response plan.

Sudan is reportedly one of the main hosting countries for South Sudanese refugees, with currently over 800,000 persons in the country.

According to the country’s refugee response plan, Khartoum and White Nile States continue to host together more than half of all refugees in Sudan.

Approximately 38% of Sudan’s refugee populations reportedly live in 25 camps across the country, mostly in Kassala, Gedaref, White Nile and East Darfur.

“The remaining 62 per cent live outside of camps, amid local communities that are hosting refugees in towns and villages,” it further stressed.

In 2023, UNHCR Sudan said it would require at least $396 million to deliver an effective response and provide life-saving assistance and protection.

(ST)