January 16, 2017
Highlights
Armed clashes continue in violation of cessation of hostilities agreement
2018 South Sudan HRP calls for more than $1.7 billion to meet the humanitarian needs of 6 million people
Key Developments
Although parties to the conflict in South Sudan signed a cessation of hostilities (COH) agreement on December 21, international media continue to report clashes between government and opposition forces in Central Equatoria and Unity states in late December. Several relief organizations relocated staff from Unity’s Koch County due to the violence.
On December 12, the UN released the South Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for 2018, identifying an estimated 7 million people who will likely require humanitarian assistance during 2018. The HRP calls for more than $1.7 billion in humanitarian funding during 2018 to assist an estimated 6 million of the most vulnerable people in South Sudan.
USAID/FFP partner the UN World Food Program (WFP) provided life-saving food assistance to approximately 4.6 million unique beneficiaries during 2017.
Numbers At A Glance
7 million
5.1 million
1.9 million
204,100
2.43 million
283,400
Humanitarian Funding
For the South Sudan Response| USAID/OFDA | $135,303,361 |
| USAID/FFP | $523,630,589 |
| State/PRM | $83,848,939 |
Total USAID and State Emergency FY 2017 Funding for the South Sudan Crisis; Includes Funding for South Sudanese Refugees in Neighboring Countries: $742,782,889
Total USG Humanitarian Funding for the South Sudan Response in FY 2014-2017, Including Funding for South Sudanese Refugees in Neighboring Countries: $2,915,779,603
CURRENT EVENTS
On December 21, parties to South Sudan’s conflict signed a COH, agreeing to cease all military action and to disengage forces across the country by December 24. The 11 signatories also committed to protect civilians and allow unimpeded humanitarian access; the parties are expected to address longer-term security arrangements and governance issues during the High-Level Revitalization Forum scheduled for early 2018.
Since late December, international media have reported continuing clashes and COH violations from both government and opposition forces, including in Unity’s Koch County and several parts of Central Equatoria. The Troika Heads of Mission—Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States—condemned the recent clashes between government and opposition forces in South Sudan.
INSECURITY, DISPLACEMENT, AND HUMANITARIAN ACCESS
November was the most dangerous month for humanitarian workers since December 2013 as armed actor attacks resulted in the deaths of nine aid workers and relocation of 47 non-governmental organization (NGO) staff members in Eastern Equatoria, Jonglei, and Unity states, according to the UN. Six of the more than 100 humanitarian access incidents reported in November led to the relocation or suspension of relief activities.
Armed actors detained six relief workers from December 17–20 following clashes between Government of the Republic of South Sudan (GoRSS) and opposition forces near Western Bahr el Ghazal State’s Raja town. WFP coordinated the location and transportation of the aid workers to an area of relative safety on December 20. UN Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator (RC/HC) for South Sudan Alain Noudéhou released a statement on December 19 expressing concern over the situation and reiterating the need for all parties to the conflict to ensure unfettered access and the safety of humanitarian workers in South Sudan.
Fourteen humanitarian staff, including personnel from USAID/OFDA partners, relocated from Koch to Unity’s Bentiu town and the capital city of Juba on December 24 due to continued conflict, according to UN and partner agencies. A USAID/OFDA partner reported on January 2 that tensions between government and opposition forces in Koch and neighboring Bieh payam remained high. As of early January, the relief organization had not resumed operations in Koch.
On December 20, the UN announced the official closure of the UN Mission to the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) protection of civilians (PoC) site in Upper Nile State’s Melut town. Since early December, UNMISS and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have facilitated the voluntary return or relocation of more than 560 internally displaced persons (IDPs) sheltering at the site, which was established in December 2013. UNHCR provided IDPs with necessary documentation required for relocation, as well as counseling services and cash assistance. Relief actors at the PoC site in Upper Nile’s Malakal town provided IDPs arriving from Melut with shelter support and other humanitarian assistance.
A majority of the approximately 2,000 people who had fled Jonglei’s Payuel village due to late 2017 intercommunal violence between members of the Murle and Bor Dinka ethnic groups had returned as of January 12, according to a UN-led interagency assessment. Surveyed community members expressed concerns about insecurity and limited health care support in Payuel, while populations in both Payuel and nearby Poktap village required improved access to safe drinking water as a result of damage to boreholes in the area.
From December 14–16, a UN-led team assessed urgent humanitarian needs in Upper Nile’s Urieng payam, Maiwut County, where approximately 18,400 IDPs fled following clashes in the state in July 2017. The assessment identified food assistance as a priority need, as IDPs will likely deplete food stocks by mid-to-late January. The assessment also found urgent water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) needs, with nearly 75 percent of IDPs reporting limited access to safe drinking water.
FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION
More than 75 percent of households across the country were facing moderate or severe levels of food insecurity as of August 2017, according to a South Sudan Food Security and Nutrition Monitoring System (FSNMS) report published in late December. The figure represents the highest proportion of food-insecure households recorded since the FSNMS began in 2010. While food prices have risen dramatically compared to the previous year, 90 percent of households reported static or decreased income over the same period, making it difficult for families to purchase enough food. Overall, households reported allocating more than 60 percent of monthly expenditures to food, a higher percentage than during the same period in 2016, according to the report.
Acute malnutrition increased across the country during 2017 as families struggled to access food. According to the FSNMS report, proxy global acute malnutrition (GAM) levels surpassed the UN World Health Organization (WHO) emergency threshold of 15 percent in nine out of the 10 states assessed, an increase from the seven states identified during the same period in 2016. Overall, nearly 40 percent of households reported receiving some form of humanitarian assistance—most commonly emergency food assistance—which the FSNMS report concluded had a significant positive impact on household food consumption.
According to key informant interviews and rapid assessments conducted in November and December, the recent harvest in South Sudan marginally improved food security, including in some counties where Catastrophe—IPC 5—levels of acute food insecurity likely occurred during the 2017 May-to-August lean season, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) reports.5 However, many households in Jonglei’s Ayod and Nyirol counties, Unity’s Leer County, and Western Bahr el Ghazal’s Wau County continue to face large food consumption gaps, and some households will likely continue to experience Catastrophe levels of acute food insecurity.
In response, USAID/FFP partner WFP provided life-saving food assistance to approximately 4.6 million unique beneficiaries during 2017. In FY 2017, USAID/FFP contributed more than $523.6 million to provide emergency food assistance to populations in South Sudan.
As of January 5, WFP had resumed the integrated rapid response mechanism (IRRM), deploying seven teams to provide life-saving food and nutrition assistance to approximately 100,000 people across South Sudan. WFP had temporarily suspended IRRM distributions in late December due to insecurity. Between January and November 2017, the UN agency used the IRRM to provide emergency food assistance to approximately 1.8 million unique beneficiaries in hard-to-reach areas across the country.
HEALTH AND WASH
On December 28, the GoRSS Ministry of Health (MoH) officials reported three deaths related to suspected cases of viral hemorrhagic fever in Yirol East County’s Thonabutkok village, Lakes State. In response to the three deaths, the MoH mobilized rapid response teams to conduct contact tracing, train health care workers, and provide health care services in the affected area. The MoH is also coordinating with the Ministry of Animal Health Resources and Fisheries, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), WHO, and NGOs to support response activities. As of January 11, health actors had reported one additional case of suspected viral hemorrhagic fever in South Sudan, according to the MoH. WHO reported on January 11 that seven samples taken from patients with suspected hemorrhagic fever in Yirol East tested negative.
WHO last responded to an outbreak of viral hemorrhagic fever in South Sudan during 2016, when more than 50 suspected cases, including 10 related deaths, occurred in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State’s Aweil town between December 2015 and May 2016.
Cholera transmission continues to decline across South Sudan, with health actors reporting zero new cases since mid-December, according to the MoH. Sporadic cases during November and early December occurred in only two counties—Central Equatoria State’s Juba County and Eastern Equatoria’s Budi County. As of December 31, health actors had recorded more than 20,400 suspected cholera cases, including 436 deaths, since the beginning of the outbreak in June 2016.
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
The UN released the South Sudan HRP for 2018 on December 12, noting that an estimated 7 million people will likely require humanitarian assistance during 2018. The HRP calls for more than $1.7 billion in funding during 2018 to assist an estimated 6 million of the most vulnerable people in South Sudan. The 2018 HRP cites various factors contributing to acute humanitarian needs in South Sudan, such as ongoing conflict and intercommunal fighting; continued economic decline; and severe food insecurity and acute malnutrition levels. The 2017 South Sudan HRP received approximately $1.19 billion, or nearly 73 percent, of the $1.6 billion requested. In addition, donors contributed more than $268 million to humanitarian organizations operating in South Sudan outside the framework of the 2017 HRP.
On December 14, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) contributed more than $70 million to assist approximately 2 million people affected by ongoing conflict in South Sudan. DFID plans to reach approximately 1.5 million South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Uganda with emergency education, food, health, nutrition, shelter, and WASH interventions. In addition, the agency aims to provide food and agriculture, health care, shelter, and WASH support to up to 500,000 vulnerable people in South Sudan.
The Government of Japan contributed $3 million on December 6 to support a project implemented by FAO, WFP, and the GoRSS Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to strengthen food security, bolster community resilience, and train farmers to combat the spread of fall armyworm in South Sudan.
CONTEXT
The January 2005 signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) officially ended more than two decades of north–south conflict during which famine, fighting, and disease killed an estimated 2 million people and displaced at least 4.5 million others within Sudan.
On December 15, 2013, clashes erupted in Juba between factions within the GoRSS and quickly spread into a protracted national conflict. On December 20, 2013, USAID activated a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to lead the USG response to the crisis in South Sudan. USAID also stood up a Washington, D.C.-based Response Management Team (RMT) to support the DART.
Fighting between SPLA and Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO) forces broke out in Juba on July 7, 2016, displacing thousands of people and prompting the U.S. Embassy in Juba to order the departure of non-critical USG personnel from South Sudan on July 10. Although heightened tensions persist in South Sudan and the humanitarian situation remains precarious, the U.S. Department of State ended the ordered departure status on January 5, 2017.
On February 20, 2017, the IPC Technical Working Group declared Famine levels of food insecurity in Unity’s Leer and Mayendit counties. On June 21, 2017, the IPC Technical Working Group declared that sustained humanitarian interventions had moderately improved food security conditions in Leer and Mayendit, resulting in the removal of the Famine level designation for acute food insecurity in the counties. Life-threatening food insecurity continues to impact households across South Sudan.
On October 19, 2017, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires, a.i., Michael K. Morrow redeclared a disaster in South Sudan for FY 2018 due to ongoing violent conflict, population displacement, restricted humanitarian access, and disruption of trade, markets, and cultivation activities, all of which have significantly exacerbated food insecurity and humanitarian needs.