{"id":46982,"date":"2026-08-15T12:08:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T10:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/?p=46982"},"modified":"2026-08-17T12:15:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T10:15:50","slug":"refugees-in-south-sudan-face-extreme-hunger-as-funding-runs-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/15\/refugees-in-south-sudan-face-extreme-hunger-as-funding-runs-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Refugees in South Sudan face extreme hunger as funding runs out"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Louis Loku<\/span><\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

More than 650,000 refugees and asylum seekers in South Sudan are at risk of losing access to lifesaving food, nutrition, and other assistance because of critical funding shortages, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned during a joint press release in Juba.<\/span><\/p>\n

The two agencies said that without immediate and urgent funding, the final food and nutrition assistance for the most vulnerable 240,000 refugees will be provided in September, cutting off a lifeline for hundreds of thousands already living on the edge.<\/span><\/p>\n

They warned that an interruption in critical aid could have immediate and long-lasting consequences for refugee families, including increased risks of malnutrition and exploitation and abuse of women and children.<\/span><\/p>\n

The agencies also expressed concern that more people could cross borders in search of food and assistance as conflict across the region continues to force people to flee their homes.<\/span><\/p>\n

In South Sudan, up to 3,000 refugees and returnees continue to arrive from Sudan each week, placing further pressure on already overstretched humanitarian resources.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing the devastating impact of conflicts that force people from their homes collide with a severe shortage of resources that is now making the crisis worse,\u201d said Adham Effendi, deputy country director for WFP in South Sudan.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor refugees and host communities, food assistance is often the difference between coping and crisis. Urgent support to save lives and livelihoods is vital to meet essential needs and reduce long-term dependence on humanitarian assistance,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

WFP faces a $37 million funding gap for its refugee response and an overall funding shortfall of $258 million for the remainder of 2026, threatening lifesaving support for 4.2 million food-insecure people across the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, UNHCR has secured only 28 per cent of the $286 million needed this year to sustain core protection and assistance for nearly four million refugees, internally displaced persons, returnees, and vulnerable host communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

The funding crisis comes as South Sudan faces one of the world’s deepest hunger emergencies. More than 7.8 million people across the country, representing more than half of the population, are facing high levels of acute food insecurity, while 2.2 million children are acutely malnourished.<\/span><\/p>\n

WFP has already been forced to prioritise assistance for only the most vulnerable refugee families, who are receiving 50 per cent of a full food ration.<\/span><\/p>\n

The agencies said the anticipated reduction in critical support comes at the height of the rainy season, when food becomes scarcer, market prices rise, and flooded or degraded roads make humanitarian access increasingly difficult.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many refugee families are already eating fewer and smaller meals, borrowing money to buy food, selling what little they own, and cutting spending on health, education, and shelter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery week, thousands more refugees and returnees continue to arrive from Sudan with almost nothing, many exhausted, hungry, and in urgent need of protection and assistance,\u201d said Mesfin Degefu, UNHCR Deputy Representative in South Sudan.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, we see refugees who have been in South Sudan for many years, working to rebuild their lives and move towards greater self-reliance. Cutting assistance now undermines hard-won progress in education, livelihoods, and resilience and may force refugee families to make desperate choices, including moving onward along dangerous routes to survive,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

South Sudan has continued to uphold its open-door policy for refugees despite facing significant humanitarian and development challenges of its own.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than 1.4 million refugees and returnees have crossed into South Sudan since war erupted in Sudan in 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

The joint appeal called on the international community to provide immediate and flexible funding to prevent a suspension of lifesaving assistance and protect families affected by the regional crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Louis Loku More than 650,000 refugees and asylum seekers in South Sudan are at risk of losing access to lifesaving food, nutrition, and other assistance because of critical funding shortages, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned during a joint press[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":46983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133,80,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-national","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/WFP-food-assistance-is-distributed-to-refugees-and-vulnerable-families-Courtesy-photo.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46984,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46982\/revisions\/46984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}