By Alan Clement
Refugees from South Sudan’s Greater Pibor Administrative Area stranded in Ethiopia’s Nyangathom region face worsening conditions after UNHCR suspended food aid, prompting urgent calls for repatriation.
The plight was highlighted during a Friday meeting in Juba between GPAA Chief Administrator Gola Boyoi Gola, senior officials Hassan Ismail Konyi and Beko Konyi Longolyo, and Foreign Affairs Minister Amb. Monday Semenya Kumba.
According to officials from GPAA, many refugees relocated from Dima to Nyangatom are enduring severe hunger, with reports of deaths linked to food shortages and have now expressed a strong desire to return home, despite the volatile conditions in their places of origin.
“The situation remains devastating. Our people are suffering without food, and lives have already been lost,” said GPAA Chief Administrator Gola Boyoi in a statement after raising the matter with government authorities.
The crisis underscores the vulnerability of South Sudanese refugees caught in protracted displacement, particularly as international aid agencies struggle with funding gaps. With food distributions halted, the refugees are left with little to sustain themselves, increasing pressure for their urgent repatriation.
Despite the continuous uncertainty of lasting peace, leaders insist that the refugees see repatriation as their only option for survival and urged the national government to prioritize repatriation efforts and engage Ethiopian authorities to facilitate safe return. “The people want to come home. They cannot continue to die of hunger in a foreign land,” they said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs pledged to engage Ethiopian authorities on the matter, but immediate relief remains uncertain. Aid agencies have not confirmed when or if food assistance to the group will resume.
For now, the refugees’ plight highlights the urgent need for both humanitarian relief and long-term solutions to displacement in South Sudan’s conflict-affected areas.