SITUATION OVERVIEW
Fighting between factions of the South Sudan armed forces started in the capital Juba on 15 December 2013 and rapidly spread throughout the country.
The crisis has so far forced an estimated 189,000 people to flee their homes. An estimated 62,000 people are seeking shelter and security on UN peacekeeping bases, while over a hundred thousand have fled to other locations within the country. In addition, some 22,600 have crossed the border into neighbouring countries (as of 4 January 2014, OCHA). The humanitarian community continues to work to provide impartial, neutral and independent aid to affected communities though access to several affected areas remains limited.
Many among the affected population, including a significant number of foreign nationals, are seeking protection within UN bases in fear of violence against civilians by armed actors. Although the volume of casualties is unknown, thousands of civilians have reportedly been killed, raped, and violently assaulted in streets and homes in Juba and elsewhere, and violent incidents continue to be reported. Many of the people sheltered at UN bases fled without any belongings, while those with resources are quickly exhausting what they have. Shelter, non-food items (NFIs), food, healthcare, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services are urgently needed in areas where displaced populations have gathered. In addition to this, many businesses and homes have been damaged and looted, affecting people’s ability to resume their lives and livelihoods once stability is restored.
The current crisis and its humanitarian consequences have occurred against a backdrop of chronic poverty characterized by inadequate basic services including WASH, healthcare, food insecurity and lack of access to productive assets. The large number of returnees – at least 2 million individuals since 2007 – arriving and settling in underserved areas has further exacerbated the conditions in these areas.
The new state is still in the process of building capacity to provide basic services to its people, who were primarily served by humanitarian actors during the decades of civil war. While the government’s financial resources are almost solely dependent on oil revenue, unresolved issues with the Government of Sudan caused stoppages in oil production in 2012, leading the Government of South Sudan to implement severe austerity measures, impeding its capacity to deliver. At the same time, it is feared that the ongoing violence has created increased feelings of mistrust and division between the people and the government.
This IOM appeal highlights emergency humanitarian assistance that IOM, as lead of the Shelter and NFI and Camp Management and Camp Coordination (CCCM) clusters and a stakeholder in the WASH and Health clusters, proposes to deliver in South Sudan between January and March 2014. In developing this appeal, IOM closely consulted with humanitarian partners to determine the most urgent needs of the affected populations. This request is in line with the humanitarian country team’s January-March 2014 South Sudan Crisis Response Plan and the broader Consolidated Appeal (CAP) 2014.