The United States has disbursed more than $95 million to support the response to the South Sudan humanitarian emergency.

US Humanitarian Assistance for the South Sudan Crisis spokesperson Ned Price said the funding will provide critical protection, economic opportunity, shelter, essential healthcare, emergency food assistance, safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene services to some of the nearly four million South Sudanese refugees and internally displaced people in South Sudan.

The funds will also support refugees and host communities in Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, he said.

“This announcement includes nearly $53 million through the US Agency for International Development and nearly $43 million from the US Department of State,” Mr Price said in a statement.

“The fund brings the total US humanitarian assistance to more than $482 million in Fiscal Year 2021.”

Flooding, political violence, and lack of effective governance in recent years have ruined livelihoods, displaced additional South Sudanese, and heightened food insecurity, raising the likelihood of famine conditions in parts of the country. Covid-19 and ongoing subnational conflict have further compounded the situation.

The urgent humanitarian need calls for sustained and coordinated donor support to the underfunded UN 2021 South Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan.

In the statement, the US called on donors and the South Sudanese government to work with the UN and international community to support the humanitarian response in South Sudan.

“Humanitarian assistance will not solve the conflict, but it is vital to keeping civilians alive.  Ultimately, political will and political solutions are the only way to end the suffering of the South Sudanese people,” said Mr Price.

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/east-africa/us-south-sudan-aid...