2024-02-10 12:10:20
The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) pledged, during a joint visit to South Sudan, to strengthen their collaboration in favor of displaced people and communities reception.
Since the start of Sudan’s war 300 days ago, more than half a million people have arrived in South Sudan, most of them South Sudanese who had lived in Sudan for decades. Many of them return to villages that have no services and where there is no humanitarian aid available. Sudanese refugees are being transferred to refugee camps where resources are already severely stretched.
Raouf Mazou, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, and Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, African Development Bank Vice President for Regional Development, Integration and Service Delivery, this week completed a joint visit to South Sudan, we learned from an AfDB press release.
Accompanied by John Dabi, Deputy Commissioner for Refugee Affairs of South Sudan, they visited a refugee camp and transit center hosting refugees from Sudan, giving them the opportunity to hear testimonies from those affected by conflict. In Juba, the capital of South Sudan, they met with high-level government officials, who welcomed the partnership and collaboration to address the country’s urgent needs. The delegation also met with representatives of the donor community.
Recalling the African Development Bank’s third strategy to address fragility and build resilience in Africa (2022-2026), which emphasizes conflict prevention, inclusive post-conflict reconstruction and development, the vice -President Akin-Olugbade said that “we are determined to address the greatest development challenges facing the African continent, including preventing and resolving the issue of forced displacement. Our collaboration and partnership with UNHCR is an important and essential way to advance resilience and durable solutions for refugees, IDPs, returnees and host communities in South Sudan.”
For his part, UNHCR’s Mazou said that “South Sudan has generously kept its border open to welcome people fleeing the war in Sudan, but they cannot shoulder this burden alone. Increased humanitarian assistance and development support are needed to provide life-saving assistance and enable conflict-affected communities to get back on their feet and rebuild their lives.”
The visit of the two senior officials highlights the value of investments in refugee and returnee areas and in the local communities that host them, as well as the crucial role of partnerships between actors in the humanitarian and development sectors. It follows a previous joint visit focused on establishing durable solutions for refugees and internally displaced persons in the Central African Republic in March 2023.
Note that in 1994, the African Development Bank and the UNHCR signed a partnership agreement aimed at promoting cooperation to help African countries improve the living conditions of refugees, returnees or displaced people in their various territories.
The Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan 2024, launched on February 7, 2024, provides $373 million to support the 537,000 refugees and host community members in South Sudan this year. An additional $158 million is needed to help other refugees and returnee South Sudanese.
Moctar FICOU / VivAfrik
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