JUBA, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Two United Nations agencies on Tuesday expressed concern about the increase of people arriving in South Sudan in need of protection and assistance, which worsened the ongoing humanitarian and displacement crisis sparked by nearly two years of fighting.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that more than one million people have so far arrived in South Sudan, having fled the conflict in Sudan which began in mid-April 2023.
UNHCR South Sudan Deputy Representative Sanaa Abdalla Omer said the arrival of over a million people into South Sudan is a stark and sobering statistic and truly shows the increasing scale of this crisis.
"Every day more families are still being forced to make the difficult choice to flee the violence in Sudan and seek safety across the border," Omer said in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, during the launch of new data published by the two UN agencies.
"We urge the international community to step up support and ensure that both displaced families and host communities receive desperately needed support," the UNHCR official added.
According to the UN report, most of the one million who have arrived are South Sudanese nationals who had been living in Sudan, many of whom had previously fled South Sudan's civil war and sought refuge in Sudan.
It noted that thousands of Sudanese nationals displaced for the first time by the ongoing violence, along with nationals from other countries residing in Sudan, have also sought safety in South Sudan.
IOM South Sudan Chief of Mission Vijaya Souri said the UN agency is committed to addressing the urgent needs of those forced to flee into South Sudan and stands ready to scale up its response as the crisis in Sudan continues to unfold.
The UN agencies expressed grave concern over this new displacement threshold in the crisis and have ramped up lifesaving humanitarian interventions since the war broke out. "The scale of displacement triggered by the war in Sudan, which is not decreasing but increasing highlights the urgent need for more humanitarian support and funding." ■
