The Ugandan government and the United Nations have appealed to international donors to help raise $8 billion to help in dealing with the influx of refugees from war-torn South Sudan.
In a statement on World Refugee Day, the U.N. children’s fund said the money is needed for emergency aid as well as “resilience interventions” targeting both refugees and host communities over the next four years.
Most of the refugees are women and children, the reason UNICEF is calling the refugee influx “a children’s crisis.”
“More than one million children have been forced from their homes in South Sudan, often amid horrific violence,” Reuters reports Leila Pakkala, a UNICEF official in the region, to say. “Day after day, week after week, they are being received by countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya. Despite great efforts on many fronts, the systems in these countries are tremendously stretched.”
The UN ranks South Sudan as Africa’s biggest refugee crisis, and third in the whole world after Syria and Afghanistan.
The world’s youngest country descended into war in December 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his then-deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup against his rule. Machar denied the allegations but then went on to mobilize a rebel force to fight the government.
A peace deal signed in 2015 has continually been violated by the warring factions as peace remains an elusive aspect in the country.
More than 3.5 millions have been displaced from their homes as a result of the war, with more than 1.5 million fleeing to neighbouring countries.
Uganda hosts the largest number of South Sudan refugees.
Earlier in the year, Ugandan authorities warned that the continued influx of the South Sudanese refugees was putting a strain on Uganda’s resources and appealed for help in managing the refugee situation.
