UN urges $1.4 bn in donation for South Sudanese refugees

The United Nations has urged donor countries to raise their contributions to South Sudanese refugees, saying some USD 1.4 billion would be needed to help people out of famine inside and outside the war-torn country.

World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley said in a statement on Monday that the situation of refugees in South Sudan and in other countries was very dire, adding that people were "close to the abyss.”

"The suffering of the South Sudanese people is just unimaginable," said Beasley, adding, "These are families like yours and mine, our brothers and sisters, and the world must help them now -- not later.”

Beasley, who was appointed WFP chief in March, said that shortages of cash had forced the UN body to decrease its aid to famine-stricken refugees, who have escaped poverty and war in South Sudan.

"Our funding situation forced us to cut food rations for many refugees in Uganda," Beasley said in a briefing with reporters in Geneva.

The WFP and the UN refugee agency had initially requested USD 1.2 billion in donation, but they said later that the amount would not be enough.

The UN said recently that the number of people who fled to Sudan in March had surpassed the expected figure for the entire year, noting that about 375,000 South Sudanese refugees were now in Sudan.

Uganda is hosting the largest number of refugees from South Sudan, with an estimated 900,000 people now living in camps there. Sudan and Ethiopia are next, with each hosting around 375,000 refugees.

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