S. Sudan: UN revises funding appeal to US$1.2bn

July 7, 2012 (JUBA) – Increasing humanitarian needs in South Sudan have prompted the UN and its partners to plan new projects and revise their funding appeal for the world’s newest nation.

The increment, donor agencies said, was mainly justified by the rapidly increasing rise in the number of refugees in the country, logistical costs for aid operations, the impact of the government’s austerity measures and the deteriorating food security situation there.

The revised appeal reportedly includes 26 new projects and 59 revised ones covering the period July to December 2012.

Early this week, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said its operations were at “breaking point” due to the massive influx of refugees from Sudan into South Sudan and Ethiopia. An estimated 200,000 people, it says, have fled fighting in Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile states into South Sudan’s Upper Nile and Unity states as well as neighbouring Ethiopia.

With the revised appeal UN agencies and their partners reportedly aim to reach 2.4 million food-insecure people, 300,000 internally displaced people, 250,000 South Sudanese returnees, 265,000 refugees and 110,000 people affected by the conflict in Abyei.

At least 4.7 million South Sudanese, according to a food security assessment carried out early this year, remain food insecure, with nearly one million of them likely to be severely affected. In addition, the recently released South Sudan Household Survey, conducted by the country’s national statistical bureau paints a negative picture on the standard of living among the population.

Over 50 percent of the South Sudanese population, the survey indicates, are poor and still live on less than US$1 (SSP5) per day.

(ST)