60,000 South Sudan refugees entered Sudan in 2017: UN

By Mohammed Amin

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AA) - The United Nations has called on the international community to provide the necessary assistance to South Sudanese refugees who are fleeing their country in ever greater numbers amid mounting reports of famine at home.

In a Wednesday statement, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), also known as the UN Refugee Agency, reported that over 60,000 South Sudanese had fled to Sudan in the first three months of this year alone.

“The number of new arrivals has surpassed expectations, signaling South Sudan’s worsening situation,” the statement read.

It went on to assert that the UNHCR and its partner agencies needed at least $166 million to meet refugees' needs, of which only 3 percent had so far been provided by donors.

“The amounts requested will likely be revised upwards in coming weeks in line with refugees’ needs,” the UNHCR stated.

Sudan has taken in roughly half a million refugees from its fledgling southern neighbor since the eruption of civil war there in late 2013.

Sudan also currently hosts more than 80,000 Syrian refugees who have fled the six-year conflict in their native country.

What’s more, thousands of refugees from the Horn of Africa region -- especially from Ethiopia and Eritrea -- are also using Sudan as a transit point in hopes of eventually reaching Europe.

The Sudanese authorities recently announced that at least one million foreign migrants on their way to Europe were now in the country illegally.