THE number of South Sudanese refugees fleeing war to Uganda has hit one million, the United Nations said yesterday.
The world’s youngest country emerged in 2011 following more than 40 years of fighting for freedom from Sudan.
However, independence failed to bring peace, with a political power struggle between President Salva Kiir and former vice-president Riek Machar escalating into a civil war between ethnic groups.
Late last year the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNHCR) warned it could turn into genocide.
People continue to leave violence in the impoverished country, with many crossing the border to Uganda, where those who gain official refugee status are given land to work from the government and host communities.
However, the number of arrivals – equivalent to the combined populations of Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee – has now hit a new benchmark and the international community is being urged to help.
More than 85 per cent of refugees are women and children and report the forced conscription of boys, widespread sexual violence and the burning of civilians in their homes.
UNHCR, which is calling for “urgent additional support”, says it has received just 20 per cent of the funds it needs to support them this year and life saving work is now under threat.
High Commissioner Filippo Grandi, who visited Sudan this week, said: “Host communities are generously sharing all available resources, but they are very visibly under immense pressure with already scarce resources. Parties to the conflict, regional states and the international community need to put an end to this tragedy.”
The World Food Programme was forced to cut food rations for refugees in June and there is a shortage of doctors in the north of Uganda, where most South Sudanese refugees live.
Meanwhile, children are schooled in classes which “often exceed” 200 pupils and are too big to be held indoors, while the distance from lessons cuts others off from education.
Lydia Zigomo, Oxfam’s regional director of the Horn, East and Central Africa, said: “As long as the senseless, costly and brutal war in South Sudan continues, its people will continue to flee in search of safety, food, water and shelter.
“South Sudan’s neighbours and the international community must honour their commitments to get the warring parties back to the negotiating table. Until then, it will not be safe for South Sudanese refugees to return home, forcing them to depend on aid across the border.
“Uganda’s open-door policy to refugees has provided protection for one million South Sudanese – the third-largest population of refugees in the world.
“Yet Uganda is seriously under-funded. If international governments do not provide the money urgently needed, Uganda’s refugee response could quickly buckle and fail.”
Sara Cowan, the charity’s humanitarian campaigner, has just returned home to Glasgow after two months in Uganda.
She said: “It’s hard to describe the impact so many people fleeing across the border is having on Uganda. I heard horrific stories of war tearing communities apart and people who’d been separated from their families during their panicked journey.
“The international community can’t leave Uganda to cope with this crisis alone. More funding and solidarity is urgently needed.”
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