UN: Sudanese refugees fleeing to Libya and Uganda in need of aid
According to the New Arab, the UN refugee agency announced on July 2nd that it is expanding its Sudan aid plan to Libya and Uganda. The announcement came after a surge of arrivals into the countries of people fleeing the Sudanese Civil War, which began in mid-April 2023.
Sudan is facing the world’s worst displacement crisis, with approximately 12 million people forced to flee their homes along with more than 2 million displaced across borders. The expansion of the UN aid plan now means that seven different African countries are taking in a large number of Sudanese refugees.
UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi warned of the prospect of refugees travelling through Libya to continue to Europe via the dangerous Mediterranean Sea route if aid was not provided.
READ: Sudan: IPC warns of famine risk in 14 areas
The UNHCR planning document published on July 2nd showed that 149,000 refugees were expected to land in Libya before the end of the year. Despite not sharing a direct border with Sudan, Uganda is expected to take in 55,000. The East African country already hosts 1.7 million refugees and asylum seekers from other crises. So far, Uganda has received 39,000 refugees since the onset of the war in Sudan.
Ewan Watson from the UNHCR told reporters in Geneva, “It just speaks to the desperate situation and desperate decisions that people are making, that they end up in a place like Libya which is of course extremely, extremely difficult for refugees right now,”.
The official stated that most of the displaced fleeing to Libya had arrived from the Darfur region, where ethnic violence has escalated. Libya has already received 20,000 refugees since last year, though arrivals have ramped up in recent months with thousands more unregistered, according to Watson.
Multiple humanitarian crises worldwide, along with governments cutting down foreign aid due to domestic budget constraints, have led to a severe shortage of resources in the Sudan aid response.
UNHCR has stated that the UN plan is less than 20% funded.
The New Arab and agencies
