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Alert / Update
South Sudan
South Sudan Protracted Conflict Crisis - Follow on response to SSD141
Geneva, 04 November 2015
1. Brief description of the emergency and impact
South Sudan continues to suffer from recurring and deteriorating humanitarian crises. Chronic conflict and insecurity situations, drought and elevated food insecurity in the country are still massive and have greatly contributed to continued high levels of humanitarian need and protracted displacement of vulnerable people. More than 2.29 million people have fled their homes since the fighting broke out in December 2013, with over 1.65 million displaced inside South Sudan and more than 630’000 refugees in the neighbouring countries. In South Sudan, more than 184,000 people are currently sheltering in the Protection of Civilians (PoC) sites in UN bases. However, nearly 90% percent of IDPs are living outside the PoCs sites. In September 2015, displaced people in Unity State continue to arrive in Nyal, Mayom and Bentiu in search of assistance and protection, while in Upper Nile State, the influx of people from the Western bank to Malakal PoC site continued. In the Equatorias, continued clashes and insecurity in the areas of Wonduruba and Mundri forced civilians to flee their homes.
Though both the government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in Opposition have recently signed a Compromise Peace Agreement to end the conflict that erupted in 2013, it is still observed that the humanitarian situation continue to worsen due to severe food insecurity, malnutrition, floods, drought, ethnic hostilities, severe insecurity and hyperinflation. The conflict continues to negatively impact the country’s economy as sustainable development is now virtually at a standstill leaving about 4.6 million of the population mainly women and children in need of urgent lifesaving humanitarian assistance and protection.
2. Why is an ACT response needed?
Currently, 34% of the population are in a severe food & nutrition insecurity since they are unable to meet their food needs. Especially in Unity State Counties of Leer, Guit, Koch & Mayendit, estimated 30’000 people are experiencing catastrophe and data from Bentiu Protection of Civilians sites shows Global Acute Malnutrition. The Greater Equatoria region for the first time is experiencing deteriorating food security & livelihood situation due to market disruption, economic downturn, insecurity & localized crop failure. Without immediate response, the current situation might escalate into famine. Also with the recently signed Peace Agreement, about 1.5 million IDPs and 632’000 South Sudanese refugees are expected to return to their respective homes, which will require humanitarian assistance for reintegration, restoration and promotion of their livelihoods. 4.6 million Comprising of IDPs, Returnees and People at the risk of food insecurity are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection.
Funding is urgently required for humanitarian partners to continue to provide life-saving assistance and protection. Particularly an ACT response is needed to bridge the gap of 46 % additional funding required to reach millions of people at the risk of hunger, diseases and even death.
3. National and international response
Humanitarian Partners on ground are networking & coordinating through the UN-OCHA and government formed Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) to intensively deliver lifesaving assistance and protection of the millions of mostly women and children already devastated by this protracted conflict. UNMISS is already hosting about 0.8 million IDPs in Protection of Civilians (PoC) sites. Through the South Sudan 2015 Humanitarian Response Plan, out of 4.6 million people mapped to be in an urgent need of assistance and protection, 3.1 million have so far been reached as of 25 August 2015. This support comes from the UN and other humanitarian Agencies back donors.
4. Planned activities
The ACT Forum-South Sudan is planning to respond through an overall objective of enhancing the living conditions of the most vulnerable people impacted by the protracted crisis through access to basic needs of life & resilience of their livelihoods. To achieve this, there is need to provide people affected with multi sector assistance in the following priority areas: Food Security and Livelihoods, Shelter & NFIs, Education in Emergency (EiE), WASH, Health & Nutrition, and Psychosocial support.
5. Constraints
South Sudan is a difficult area of operation; Logistics, bad roads, insecurity, floods and daily rocketing market prices due to hyperinflation resulting from depreciation of the local currency (South Sudanese Pound) against the United States Dollars (USD) directly constraint operations. Humanitarian access is shrinking as activities are hampered by the extremely challenging physical environment, growing violence against aid workers and assets and a rapidly mounting set of bureaucratic impediments. Up to 60% of the country is cut off during the rainy season, meaning that road access in key locations of humanitarian response is minimal or impossible from July until December (and in some cases longer). The context demands effective planning and prepositioning, which in turn depends on timely and predictable funding.
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Any funding indication or pledge should be communicated to the Head of Finance and Administration, Line Hempel (Line.Hempel@actalliance.org).
