JOHANNESBURG: Uganda is at a “breaking
point” as almost 3,000 South Sudanese refugees
pour into the country every day, the United
Nations refugee chief said on Thursday.
The UN has called it the world’s fastest-growing
refugee crisis.
A joint statement by Filippo Grandi and Uganda’s
government says more than 570,000 refugees
have arrived from South Sudan since July - and
the number could pass one million by the middle
of this year.
Uganda is hosting a total of 800,000 South
Sudanese refugees who have arrived since the
neighboring country’s civil war began in late
2013.
More than 1.6 million have fled South Sudan
overall.
The unprecedented surge in refugee arrivals has
placed “enormous strain” on public services and
infrastructure, Uganda’s Prime Minister Ruhakana
Rugunda said. Food and clean water are running
short. “We continue to welcome our neighbors in
their time of need but we urgently need the
international community to assist as the
situation is becoming increasingly critical,”
Rugunda said.
The joint statement says more than $250 million
is needed this year to support South Sudanese
refugees in Uganda.
“The lack of international attention to the
suffering of the South Sudanese people is failing
some of the most vulnerable people in the world
when they most desperately need our help,”
Grandi said.
Uganda’s refugee response has been recognised
by the international community as one of the
most progressive in Africa and is being used as a
global model.
Arriving refugees receive small plots of land in
host communities to help support themselves.
Million