Funding crisis threatens lifeline over 600,000 refugees in South Sudan

JUBA — More than 650,000 refugees and asylum seekers in South Sudan are facing a deepening humanitarian crisis as severe funding shortages threaten to cut off lifesaving food, nutrition, and other assistance, the UN refugee agencies warned on Friday.

The warning comes as the last remaining food and nutrition support for some 240,000 of the country’s most vulnerable refugees is expected to run out in September unless urgent funding is secured.

For families who fled war, violence, and hunger, losing this vital lifeline could lead to increased malnutrition, greater exposure to exploitation and abuse, and renewed cross-border displacement in search of food and safety.

For hundreds of thousands of refugee families, the consequences of an interruption in critical aid would be immediate and long-lasting, including heightened risks of malnutrition and exploitation and abuse of women and children.

The warning comes as conflict across the region continues to force people to flee across borders into neighboring countries in search of food, shelter, and safety.

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.

“We 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,” said Adham Effendi, Deputy Country Director for WFP in South Sudan.

“For 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.”

“Every 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,” said Mesfin Degefu, UNHCR Deputy Representative in South Sudan.

“At 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.”

According to the statement, the WFP faces an immediate USD 37 million funding gap for its refugee response, alongside an overall shortfall of USD 258 million for the remainder of 2026.

The funding crisis threatens lifesaving assistance for an estimated 4.2 million food-insecure people across the country.

Meanwhile, UNHCR has secured only 28 percent of the USD 286 million required this year to maintain essential protection and assistance for nearly four million refugees, internally displaced people, returnees, and vulnerable host communities.

This funding crisis is unfolding against the backdrop of one of the world’s deepest hunger emergencies.

More than 7.8 million people across South Sudan—more than half the population—are facing high levels of acute food insecurity, while 2.2 million children are acutely malnourished.

The WFP has already been forced to prioritize assistance for only the most vulnerable refugee families, who are receiving just 50 percent of a full food ration.

South Sudan has continued to uphold its open-door policy for refugees despite facing significant humanitarian and development challenges of its own.

More than 1.4 million refugees and returnees have crossed into South Sudan since war erupted in Sudan in 2023