February 26th 2020 (Nyamilepedia) – Roughly 7.5 million people in South Sudan are “in dire need of humanitarian assistance” because of a five-year long civil war, the UN migration body said Tuesday.
“Some 1.5 million people remain displaced internally while a further 2.2 million are in neighboring countries,” the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said of the consequences left by the war.
Because of the current sever consequences experienced by South Sudan, the IOM announced an appeal in 2020 for $119,3 million “to meet the needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees, host community members and migrants throughout the country.”
The appeal was built on a Humanitarian Response Plan for South Sudan for 2020 to continue humanitarian support it provided in 2019.
“In 2019, IOM received immense support from the donor community, and we are hopeful that this year will be no different,” IOM South Sudan Chief of Mission Jean-Philippe Chauzy said in a statement.
“We call on the donor community to continue providing support to the people of South Sudan as they rebuild their lives towards a durable peace as promised by the Revitalized Peace Agreement,” Chauzy added.
The UN body voiced that South Sudan also has been suffering an invasion of desert locusts in recent weeks, an additional threat to “the food security situation of millions.”
South Sudan slid into crisis in December 2013 when current President Salva Kiir sacked Rick Machar as vice president on suspicion of plotting a coup, followed by a protracted civil war that claimed tens of thousands of lives and forced 4 million people to flee their homes.
Kiir appointed Machar as first vice president on Friday, in line with a revitalized peace agreement reached between the two sides in September 2018.
Under the agreement, South Sudan will have five vice presidents.
South Sudan split from Sudan in 2011 after decades of bloody war with Khartoum, famously becoming the world’s youngest nation.
