AFRICA/SOUTH SUDAN - Appeal for funds for refugees fleeing war in Sudan; "Beware of corruption" warns a member of civil society

Saturday, 6 May 2023 wars   refugees  

Juba (Agenzia Fides) - Since the fighting broke out in Sudan on April 15, more than 32,500 people have been registered as having crossed the border between Sudan and South Sudan, according to the authorities in Juba.
The actual number is likely to be higher as some people have entered the country without registering, with an average of 3,500 people arriving per day.
Most of those arriving are South Sudanese returning home, Sudanese asylum seekers, Eritrean refugees, Kenyan and Somali migrants and third-country nationals.
In order to accommodate people fleeing the fighting in Sudan, the South Sudan Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs has requested more than $4 million.
So far, the sum of $1 million has been allocated by the President's office, but at least another $4 million is needed to relocate returnees and asylum seekers from the towns of Paloch and Renk in the Upper Nile State, where reception facilities are saturated and there is a risk of epidemics.
Speaking to reporters after the cabinet meeting in Juba, Information Minister Michael Makuei said the cabinet had asked Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Albino Akol Atak to work with the United Nations and humanitarian agencies to deliver aid to the population.
However, representatives of South Sudanese civil society have warned against maximum transparency in the use of the funds requested for the reception of returnees and refugees.
Ter Manyang Gatwech, president of the Civil Society Coalition for the Defense of Civic Space (CSCDC), told Catholic radio station Radio Tamazuj: "I remember that the former minister of humanitarian affairs received 10 million dollars for flood victims and no one knows to this day how the money was used, so this is a serious concern".
"It is now necessary for the new minister to ask for money now because we know there is a crisis in Sudan. South Sudan therefore has an obligation to respond to the crisis, but our concern is the issue of accountability and transparency," he said, recalling "past experience which has shown that there is always corruption when funds are disbursed in response to a crisis. Nobody is sure that this money will reach the people in need", he concluded.
East African leaders have expressed concern over ceasefire violations in Sudan and urged the parties to engage in dialogue, according to the South Sudanese mediator. South Sudan's foreign ministry says President Salva Kiir had spoken to warring generals in Sudan about his "concerns and those of the leaders of IGAD," the East African regional bloc.
US and Saudi authorities confirmed that talks between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began today, May 6, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 6/5/2023)


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