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South Sudan Humanitarian Bulletin Issue 5 | 28 March 2017

Countries
South Sudan
+ 2 more
Sources
OCHA
Publication date

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Humanitarian Coordinator demands perpetrators of attacks against aid workers be held to account.

  • Aid organizations are working to scale up the famine response in central and southern Unity.

  • Fighting and insecurity across the Equatorias continue to uproot tens of thousands of civilians.

  • Thousands of people remain displaced following clashes in Jonglei, which resulted in killings, destruction, gender-based violence and recruitment of child soldiers.

FIGURES

No. of Internally Displaced People 1.9 million

No. of refugees in neighboring countries 1.6 million

No. of people food insecure (Feb-April 2017)

4.9 million

FUNDING

$302.2 million funding received in 2017*

18.5% of appeal funding received in 2017

$1.6 billion requirements for South Sudan 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan

Humanitarians attacked and killed

Six staff members of a national non-governmental organization (NGO), Grassroots Empowerment and Development Organisation (GREDO), were killed in an ambush on 25 March, in Central Equatoria while travelling from Juba to Pibor. A seventh person travelling with the group was also killed.
The Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, Eugene Owusu, strongly condemned the attack and called for the perpetrators to be held to account. “At a time when humanitarian needs have reached unprecedented levels, it is entirely unacceptable that those who are trying to help are being attacked and killed [...] [A]ttacks against aid workers and aid assets are utterly reprehensible,” said Mr. Owusu. “They not only put the lives of aid workers at risk, they also threaten the lives of thousands of South Sudanese who rely on our assistance for their survival. [...] I implore all those in positions of power to step up to their responsibilities and stop this, as they are ultimately accountable for what happens under their watch. There is no safety when attacks are met with silence and inaction.” The ambush–which represents the highest number of aid workers killed in a single incident since the conflict began–comes after two other grave attacks on aid workers this month. At least 79 aid workers have been killed in South Sudan since the beginning of the December 2013 crisis, including 12 killed in 2017, and at least eight humanitarian convoys have been attacked already this year.

Read more: Press release -- http://bit.ly/2mEj3UT

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.