UNHCR: $1.6 Billion to Help Sudanese Refugees in Neighboring Countries

Geneva – Sudanhorizon
The UN Refugee Agency’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Mamadou Dian Baldé, said they are “urgently seeking, in collaboration with 123 partners, to raise $1.6 billion to provide vital, life-saving assistance and better dignity support to 5.9 million people in seven countries neighboring Sudan this year.”
He told a press conference held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on Tuesday that the UNHCR will prioritize assisting some 470,000 new refugees expected to arrive in neighboring countries this year, in addition to thousands more who remain in border areas and have received only the most basic assistance since their arrival.
He added: “The need for a fourth annual appeal of this magnitude underscores the continuing impact of the war in Sudan and the difficulty of keeping pace with the humanitarian response to this situation.”
Mamadou stated that thousands of people continue to flee across the border every week, mostly arriving in fragile areas where public services and economic opportunities were already limited even before the crisis.
He noted that host governments and local communities continue to demonstrate remarkable solidarity despite reaching their maximum capacity. He pointed out that Egypt is currently hosting the largest number of refugees fleeing Sudan, with the number of registered refugees there nearly quadrupling since 2023.
Mamadu said that funding cuts have forced UNHCR to close two of its three registration centers in Egypt, negatively impacting access to essential protection services.
He indicated that funding available last year amounted to $4 per refugee per month, compared to $11 in 2022. He explained that more than 71,000 refugee families in eastern Chad have not received any housing assistance, leaving them without safe and adequate shelter, while some 234,000 people living in dire conditions on the border are awaiting resettlement.
He explained that the closure of clinics and the suspension of basic nutrition programs have led to an increased risk of thousands of Sudanese refugees in the Kiryandaungo camp in Uganda contracting diseases.

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