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South Sudan

2015 UNHCR country operations profile - South Sudan

| Overview |

Working environment

Since the outbreak of the conflict in South Sudan in December 2013, continuing insecurity, and logistical constraints owing to heavy rains, have hampered the delivery of food and other essential items. Access to displaced people has been restricted, and refugees have faced serious protection concerns. At the same time, humanitarian workers have been at heightened risk. Six humanitarian workers were killed in a refugee-hosting area of Maban County in August 2014.
The multiplicity of armed elements throughout South Sudan greatly exacerbated the challenge of re-establishing the civilian character of refugee camps in the north and north-east of the country. This also affected the protection environment with the erosion of law and order in refugee settlements and camps, as well as in surrounding communities.
Competition over scarce resources has in some places caused tensions and fighting between refugees and host communities. Greater attention must be paid to the needs of host communities in order to foster peaceful coexistence. This is important in order to minimize the risk of secondary displacement of refugees and further instability in the border regions.
Insecurity and access constraints have required the use of air transport for goods and humanitarian personnel, driving up the costs of delivering assistance and services to refugees and the internally displaced people (IDPs). The crisis has also stymied plans to improve camp-based refugees' living conditions through the upgrading of emergency structures into more organized, sustainable constructions.
The South Sudanese civilian population at large is bearing the brunt of the conflict, with some 1.4 million people uprooted by the end of September 2014. The continuing violence could also precipitate famine in the country, where millions suffer from food insecurity and varying degrees of malnutrition as they cannot plant, grow and harvest crops due to their forced displacement.

People of concern

By mid-2014, South Sudan was hosting over 250,000 refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia and Sudan. They include over 220,000 Sudanese refugees from the Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions who depend mainly on humanitarian aid for their survival.

The refugees from the CAR, the DRC and Ethiopia are living mainly in the relatively stable Central, Eastern and Western Equatoria states, and have not been exposed to the same violence and insecurity faced by the Sudanese refugees and the IDPs.

By mid-2014, there were also over 1.4 million South Sudanese internally displaced by the conflict that erupted in Juba in December 2013. The violence that spread to large parts of the country has mostly affected Jonglei state, as well as Unity and Upper Nile states where the majority of the displaced, as well as Sudanese refugees, are staying. Nearly 10 per cent of IDPs are found in the nine United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) Protection of Civilians sites and the overwhelming majority live in remote and often inaccessible locations.

UNHCR 2015 planning figures for South Sudan*
Type of population	Origin	January 2015		December 2015
Type of population	Origin	Total in country	Of whom assisted by UNHCR	Total in country	Of whom assisted by UNHCR
Total		1,400,150	590,150	1,568,650	508,650
* UNHCR also continues to work to prevent statelessness as a result of the independence of South Sudan in 2011. The Office will assist people at risk of statelessness to confirm their identity and South Sudanese nationality through civil status documentation and/or information programmes.
Refugees	Dem. Rep. of the Congo	15,600	15,600	17,600	17,600
	Ethiopia	6,500	6,500	7,000	7,000
	Sudan	245,500	245,500	266,300	266,300
	Various	2,200	2,200	2,700	2,700
Asylum-seekers	Various	50	50	50	50
Returnee arrivals during year (ex-refugees)	South Sudan	300	300	25,000	25,000
Internally displaced	South Sudan	1,000,000	300,000	1,000,000	110,000
People in IDP-like situations	South Sudan	110,000	10,000	110,000	10,000
Returnee arrivals during year (ex-IDPs)	South Sudan	20,000	10,000	140,000	70,000

| Response |

Needs and strategies

UNHCR will continue to encourage the Government of South Sudan to sign and ratify relevant international conventions and treaties related to the protection of refugees and the prevention of statelessness. The Office enjoys the support of the Commission of Refugee Affairs, which has established an active field presence in Unity and Upper Nile states hosting Sudanese refugees.

In 2015, UNHCR's main focus in South Sudan will be to respond to the needs of Sudanese refugees in the camps. The overarching priority will be to upgrade emergency structures in all camps and enhance the shelter, health, education, water, sanitation and hygiene sectors to improve the current standards. Protection priorities will include: maintaining the civilian character of refugee settlements; improving access to and the quality of education, as a means of preventing child recruitment and child labour; enhancing the monitoring of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and referral of cases; harmonizing access to assistance for individuals with specific needs; promoting peaceful coexistence among refugees and host communities; and strengthening the Government's capacity to respond to the protection needs of refugees.

Basic services, self-reliance and identification of durable solutions will be pursued for non-Sudanese refugees remaining in camps/settlements. Protection and basic services will be continued for urban refugees, and the Office will also promote the distribution of identity cards. UNHCR will continue facilitating voluntary repatriation of refugees whenever possible. In addition, community-based activities will be implemented for refugee/IDP returnees to support their smooth and sustainable reintegration process.

The Office will support the Government in processing applications for nationality and identity documentation to prevent statelessness.

With regard to IDPs, UNHCR, as a part of the Humanitarian Country Team in South Sudan, will lead or actively engage in the response efforts in the area of protection, camp coordination and camp management (CCCM) and shelter/non-food items (NFIs), targeting the most vulnerable IDPs including those displaced outside the Protection of Civilians sites.

| Implementation |

Coordination

UNHCR will maintain its strategic and operational partnerships to deliver protection and assistance to refugees, returnees and IDPs in the country.

Regarding IDPs, UNHCR will continue to lead the protection cluster with NRC and to co-lead the CCCM cluster, together with IOM and ACTED, as well as to support the IOM-led shelter/NFI cluster. Furthermore, the Office will continue to undertake assessments, protection monitoring, registration of unaccompanied and separated children and advocacy together with other protection actors, the Government, OCHA, diplomatic missions and UNMISS.

In responding to refugee situations, the Office also actively coordinates with different agencies,drawing on their technical expertise and on the provision of emergency supplies.

2015 UNHCR partners in South Sudan
Implementing partners
Government agencies: Commissioner for Refugee Affairs, Directorate of Nationality, South Sudan AIDS Commission
NGOs: Action Africa Help International, Africa Humanitarian Action, Agence d'aide à la coopération, Association of Christian Resource Organization Serving Sudan, UK, Care South Sudan, Danish Refugee Council, IBIS - Italy, Health Link - South Sudan, Human Development Council, International Medical Corps, International Rescue Committee, Lutheran World Federation, Nonviolent Peaceforce, Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children Fund, Samaritan's Purse - USA, World Vision International
Others: UNOPS, UNV
Operational partners
Government agencies: Ministry of the Interior and Wildlife Conservation
NGOs: Médecins Sans Frontières (France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain), CAFOD, Relief International, Medair, Mentor, Oxfam
Others: FAO, IOM, UNAIDS, UNOCHA, UN-Habitat, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNMAS, UNMISS and WFP

| Financial information |

The overall financial requirements for UNHCR's operation in South Sudan in 2013 were USD 220.10 million. In 2014, the comprehensive needs budget was set at USD 230.1 million; however supplementary requirements have already brought the 2014 revised budget to USD 424.3 million by June 2014.

In 2015, the financial requirements for the operation have been set at USD 342.6 million, reflecting the priority need to urgently provide basic life-saving assistance to the increasing number of internally displaced, as well as those of refugees hosted by the Government and people of South Sudan.

It is likely that there will be an appeal for supplementary requirements related to the South Sudan situation in 2015.

Source: UNHCR Global Appeal 2015 Update

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Statistical Snapshot*
Notes * As at December 2014 Country or territory of asylum or residence. Persons recognized as refugees under the 1951 UN Convention/1967 Protocol, the 1969 OAU Convention, in accordance with the UNHCR Statute, persons granted a complementary form of protection and those granted temporary protection. It also includes persons in a refugee-like situation for whom refugee status has, for practical or other reasons, not been ascertained. In the absence of Government figures, UNHCR has estimated the refugee population in many industrialized countries based on 10 years of individual asylum-seeker recognition. Persons whose applications for asylum or refugee status are pending at the end of 2014 at any stage in the asylum procedure. Refugees who have returned to their place of origin during 2014. Source: country of origin and asylum. Persons who are displaced within their country and to whom UNHCR extends protection and assistance. It also includes people in IDP-like situations. This category is descriptive in nature and includes groups of persons who are inside their country of nationality or habitual residence and who face protection risks similar to those of IDPs but who, for practical or other reasons, could not be reported as such. IDPs protected/assisted by UNHCR who have returned to their place of origin during 2014. Refers to persons who are not considered as nationals by any State under the operation of its law. This category refers to persons who fall under the agency's statelessness mandate because they are stateless according to this international definition, but data from some countries may also include persons with undetermined nationality. Refers to individuals who do not necessarily fall directly into any of the other groups but to whom UNHCR may extend its protection and/or assistance services. These activities might be based on humanitarian or other special grounds. The data are generally provided by Governments, based on their own definitions and methods of data collection. A dash (-) indicates that the value is zero, not available or not applicable. Source: UNHCR/Governments. Compiled by: UNHCR, FICSS.
Residing in South Sudan [1]
Refugees [2]	248,152
Asylum Seekers [3]	130
Returned Refugees [4]	0
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) [5]	1,645,392 IDP figure in South Sudan includes 155,200 people who are in an IDP-like situation.
Returned IDPs [6]	200,055
Stateless Persons [7]	0
Various [8]	0
Total Population of Concern	2,093,729
Originating from South Sudan [1]
Refugees [2]	616,210 An unknown number of refugees from South Sudan may be included under Sudan (in absence of separate statistics for both countries).
Asylum Seekers [3]	3,785 An unknown number of asylum-seekers from South Sudan may be included under Sudan (in absence of separate statistics for both countries).
Returned Refugees [4]	0
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) [5]	1,645,392 IDP figure in South Sudan includes 155,200 people who are in an IDP-like situation.
Returned IDPs [6]	200,055
Various [8]	0
Total Population of Concern	2,465,442

South Sudan Fact Sheet

South Sudan: Operational Data Portal

South Sudan Situation, UNHCR Regional Update

Southerners on the move before Sudanese vote

Ahead of South Sudan's landmark January 9, 2011 referendum on independence, tens of thousands of southern Sudanese in the North packed their belongings and made the long trek south. UNHCR set up way stations at key points along the route to provide food and shelter to the travellers during their arduous journey. Several reports of rapes and attacks on travellers reinforced the need for these reception centres, where women, children and people living with disabilities can spend the night. UNHCR has made contingency plans in the event of mass displacement after the vote, including the stockpiling of shelter and basic provisions for up to 50,000 people.

Southerners on the move before Sudanese vote

South Sudan: Preparing for Long-Awaited Returns

The signing of a peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the army of the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement on 9 January, 2005, ended 21 years of civil war and signaled a new era for southern Sudan. For some 4.5 million uprooted Sudanese – 500,000 refugees and 4 million internally displaced people – it means a chance to finally return home.

In preparation, UNHCR and partner agencies have undertaken, in various areas of South Sudan, the enormous task of starting to build some basic infrastructure and services which either were destroyed during the war or simply had never existed. Alongside other UN agencies and NGOs, UNHCR is also putting into place a wide range of programmes to help returnees re-establish their lives.

These programs include road construction, the building of schools and health facilities, as well as developing small income generation programmes to promote self-reliance.

South Sudan: Preparing for Long-Awaited Returns

South Sudan: The Long Trip Home

When the peace treaty that ended 21 years of civil war between north and south Sudan was signed in 2005, some 223,000 Sudanese refugees were living in Uganda – the largest group of Sudanese displaced to a neighbouring country.

Despite South Sudan's lack of basic infrastructure, such as schools, hospitals and roads, many Sudanese were eager to go home. In May 2006, the UN refugee agency's Uganda office launched an assisted repatriation programme for Sudanese refugees. The returnees were given a repatriation package, including blankets, sleeping mats, plastic sheets, mosquito nets, water buckets, kitchen sets, jerry cans, soap, seeds and tools, before being transported from the transit centres to their home villages. As of mid-2008, some 60,000 Sudanese living in Uganda had been helped back home.

As of the beginning of May 2008, some 275,000 Sudanese refugees had returned to South Sudan from surrounding countries, including Uganda, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya. Some 125,000 returned with UNHCR assistance.

Posted on 16 July 2008

South Sudan: The Long Trip Home

The Most Important Thing

More than 105,000 refugees have crossed the border between Sudan's Blue Nile state and South Sudan's Upper Nile state since November, 2011. The journey, usually made on foot, winds through treacherous conflict zones and along back roads that are barely passable due to heavy rains. Most flee on a moment's notice, bringing only what they can carry, and sometimes nothing more than the clothes on their backs. Some arrive ill or injured, and many have gone hungry along the way. Photojournalist Brian Sokol asked several refugees in South Sudan to show him the most important item they brought with them. See his photo essay to find out what they chose.

The Most Important Thing

Refugee life in one of the most remote places in South Sudan

Over the past year, thousands of people from Sudan's South Kordofan state have fled violence to seek safety in Yida refugee camp, situated just across the border in South Sudan. In late September, Yida was home to approximately 65,000 refugees from the Nuba Mountains. Located in one of the most remote places in South Sudan, Yida is now a virtual island as the rainy season has made access roads impassable.

Every day, refugees continue to arrive from across the border after harrowing journeys. All are tired and growing numbers are in poor health. Renewed air and ground attacks are causing more and more people to take flight.

UNHCR and humanitarian partners on the ground are providing protection and life-saving assistance to the refugee community in one of the most challenging operational environments in the world. The following photographs, taken by UNHCR Public Information Officer Kathryn Mahoney, depict daily life for refugees in Yida.

Refugee life in one of the most remote places in South Sudan

The resilience and dignity of refugees in South Sudan

Since September 2011, more than 100,000 Sudanese refugees have fled bombing raids and fighting in their home country and taken refuge in South Sudan's Upper Nile state. Hosted in four refugee camps in Maban County, they face tough living conditions that have worsened during the rainy season. Staff from the UN refugee agency share some of their hardship in one of the most remote and difficult to access areas of South Sudan.

Grateful for the life-saving assistance they receive from the UN refugee agency and its humanitarian partners, the refugees are an example of the extraordinary resilience humans are capable of. The following photographs, taken by UNHCR staff, show the conditions in which they live during a daily battle to maintain their dignity and hope.

The resilience and dignity of refugees in South Sudan

Health crisis in South Sudan

There are roughly 105,000 refugees in South Sudan's Maban County. Many are at serious health risk. UNHCR and its partners are working vigorously to prevent and contain the outbreak of malaria and several water-borne diseases.

Most of the refugees, especially children and the elderly, arrived at the camps in a weakened condition. The on-going rains tend to make things worse, as puddles become incubation areas for malaria-bearing mosquitoes. Moderately malnourished children and elderly can easily become severely malnourished if they catch so much as a cold.

The problems are hardest felt in Maban County's Yusuf Batil camp, where as many as 15 per cent of the children under 5 are severely malnourished.

UNHCR and its partners are doing everything possible to prevent and combat illness. In Yusuf Batil camp, 200 community health workers go from home to home looking educating refugees about basic hygene such as hand washing and identifying ill people as they go. Such nutritional foods as Plumpy'nut are being supplied to children who need them. A hospital dedicated to the treatment of cholera has been established. Mosquito nets have been distributed throughout the camps in order to prevent malaria.

Health crisis in South Sudan

A Family On the Move in South Sudan

When fighting erupted in Kormaganza, Blue Nile state, in September last year, 80-year-old Dawa Musa's family decided to flee to the neighbouring village of Mafot. Dawa was too frail to make the two-day journey by foot, so her son, Awad Kutuk Tungud, hid her in the bush for three days while he moved his wife, Alahia, and nine children to safety. Awad returned for his mother and carried her to Mafot, where the family remained in relative safety for several months - until artillery began shelling the village.

Awad again fled with his family - this time across the border to South Sudan. For 15 gruelling days, he carried both his elderly mother and his daughter Zainab on his back, until they reached the border crossing at Al Fudj in February. UNHCR transported the family to Jamam refugee camp in South Sudan's Upper Nile state. They lived in safety for seven months until heavy rains caused flooding, making it difficult for UNHCR to bring clean water to the camp and bringing the threat of highly contagious waterborne diseases.

UNHCR set up a new camp in Gendrassa, located 55 kilometres from Jamam and on higher ground, and began the relocation of 56,000 people to the new camp. Among them were Awad and his family. Awad carried his mother once again, but this time it was to their new tent in Gendrassa camp. Awad has plans to begin farming. "Come back in three months," he said, "and there will be maize growing."

A Family On the Move in South Sudan

Widow Oumi starts a new life in South Sudan camp

Oumi arrived in Yusuf Batil refugee camp, in South Sudan, after three months on the run. Along the way she gave birth to a son, lost her husband to illness and guided her four children safely across the border from Sudan. The family reared goats, sheep and cattle in their home in Sudan's Blue Nile state before the war came to their village. With her children sick and hungry, Oumi finally found shelter in Yusuf Batil, where she is receiving assistance from UNHCR and its partners.

The widow, who does not know her age, says her life is now in the camp where she cooks for the children and hopes they can all soon start to help her. She says she worries about the future but dreams of being given a plot of land where she can grow sorghum, maize and okra to sell and make enough money to buy some goats. The following pictures depict Oumi and her children in their new home.

Widow Oumi starts a new life in South Sudan camp

Emergency food distribution in South Sudan's Jonglei state

Humanitarian organizations in South Sudan are working to deliver emergency assistance to some of the tens of thousands of people displaced by armed conflict in Jonglei state. Most of those uprooted have fled into the bush or have walked for days to reach villages away from the fighting. Others have journeyed even greater distances to find sanctuary in the neighbouring countries of Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda. Gaining access to those affected in an insecure and isolated area has been a significant challenge for aid workers. Since mid-July, an airlift has been providing food supplies to families living in two previously inaccessible villages and where humanitarian agencies have established temporary bases. As part of the "cluster approach" to humanitarian emergencies, which brings together partners working in the same response sector, UNHCR is leading the protection cluster to ensure the needs of vulnerable individuals among the displaced are addressed.

Emergency food distribution in South Sudan's Jonglei state

Thousands of refugees moved before the rains hit South Sudan

Since the beginning of May, an operation has been under way in South Sudan to move more than 18,000 Sudanese refugees to a newly built camp. Six days a week, around 500 people are transported from the Jamam camp in Upper Nile state to a recently constructed site called Kaya. South Sudan's long and intense rainy season will soon begin in earnest and the operation will move the refugees from a location prone to severe flooding to one designed to remain accessible and functional during the downpours. The rains leave large areas of the country cut off by flood waters for months. Residents of Jamam are assisted to move their household belongings and are allotted a plot of land on arrival in Kaya, where UNHCR partners have established schools and medical facilities. Newly arrived refugees from Sudan are also brought to Kaya, where they are provided with relief items and shelter. UNHCR's Tim Irwin was there with his camera.

Thousands of refugees moved before the rains hit South Sudan

Displacement in South Sudan: A Camp Within a Camp

In the three weeks since South Sudan erupted in violence, an estimated 200,000 South Sudanese have found themselves displaced within their own country. Some 57,000 have sought sanctuary at bases of UN peace-keepers across the country. These photos by UNHCR's Senior Regional Public Information Officer Kitty McKinsey give a glimpse of the daily life of the 14,000 displaced people inside the UN compound known locally as Tong Ping, near the airport in Juba, South Sudan's capital. Relief agencies, including UNHCR, are rallying to bring shelter, blankets and other aid items, but in the first days, displaced people had to fend for themselves. The compounds have taken on all the trappings of small towns, with markets, kiosks, garbage collection and public bathing facilities. Amazingly, children still manage to smile and organize their own games with the simplest of materials.

Displacement in South Sudan: A Camp Within a Camp

Down Through the Generations, Conflict Forces Flight in South Sudan

In what is now South Sudan, families have been fleeing fighting for generations since conflict first erupted there in 1955. The Sudan War ended in 1972, then flared up again in 1983 and dragged on for 22 years to the peace deal in 2005 that led to the south's independence from Sudan in 2011.

But the respite was shortlived. One year ago, fresh conflict broke out between government and opposition supporters in the world's newest country, forcing 1.9 million people in the nation of 11 million from their homes. Most - 1.4 million - ended up somewhere else within South Sudan. Now older people live in stick-and-tarpaulin huts with their children, and their children's children, all three generations - sometimes four - far from home due to yet more war.

The largest settlement for such families is near the town of Mingkaman in South Sudan's Lakes state, close to the central city of Bor. More than 100,000 internally displaced people live in the settlement, located a few hours boat ride up the Nile from the capital, Juba. Photographer Andrew McConnell recently visited Mingkaman to follow the daily life of six families and find out how the wars have affected them.

Down Through the Generations, Conflict Forces Flight in South Sudan

South Sudan: Four Years On from Independence

In 2011 the people of South Sudan celebrated their independence. Four years later, the world's newest nation is one of the world's worst humanitarian situations. In December 2013, conflict erupted displacing 2 million people including more than 600,000 refugees. South Sudanese has fled to Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan. The crisis has especially impacted the next generation of South Sudanese, 70% of those displaced are children.

South Sudan Crisis: One Year On

Uganda: A Father's Troubles

Forty-five-year-old Gabriel fled South Sudan with his wife and children to find safety in the UN compound in Bor. But, in April 2014, his wife was killed when an armed mob forced their way in, and now he is a single father to five children, seeking a better life in Uganda.

South Sudan: Adut's struggle

Thousands in war-torn South Sudan have lost their homes and livelihoods. When seventeen year old Adut lost her parents, she also lost her childhood by taking on the role of mom and dad for her young siblings. But, despite the everyday struggle, she is finding new skills and new hope in exile.

South Sudan: Grandma Abuk's Children

Years of violence and bloodshed in South Sudan robbed Abuk of her seven children. When fighting returned last year, the old lady fled anew with her grandchildren, hampered by deteriorating eyesight.

South Sudan: No Home To Return To

Philip and his family fled from their home in the South Sudan town of Bor last December and found shelter in the capital, Juba. Recently they decided to return home, despite the risks. It took three arduous days to get back, but then they got there they found that their home had been destroyed.

South Sudan: Food Security

Jacob is plowing 20 kilometers far from his own home town, Bor, after having to abandon it due to the ongoing fighting in South Sudan. Now in Mingkaman camp,as a displaced person, this land he plows is all he has after losing farm and cattle back home

South Sudan: Flooding Disaster

Nearly 100,000 people are living in cramped, overcrowded camps in Mingkaman, in Rivers State, South Sudan. Whenever it rains, tents become flooded causing already fragile sanitation conditions to worsen.

South Sudan: Rainy Season

As the rainy season approaches, the humanitarian situation in South Sudan remains critical. The rains will make it more difficult to bring in aid and if conflict continues, half of South Sudan's 12 million people could be in danger of starvation by the end of this year.

South Sudan: UNHCR and WFP Visit with Aid

The heads of UNHCR Antonio Guterres, and WFP's Ertharin Cousin visited South Sudan in April 2014, to raise awareness of the conditions faced by the people of South Sudan due to the ongoing violence.

South Sudan: Bringing Aid to Malakal

UNHCR and its partners have been able to start handing out aid items to thousands of people in the South Sudan town of Malakal, where insecurity and widespread looting had prevented distribution. There are many women, children and older people among the displaced.

South Sudan: Here and Helping

The South Sudanese town of Bor was among the worst hit in the latest violence in the country. These newly displaced people found shelter in an Ethiopian refugee camp.

South Sudan: Born into Conflict

Nyariek was born as conflict returned to the world's newest country, South Sudan. But later that day, tragedy struck when her South Sudanese mother was killed in an attack.

South Sudan: Displaced by Discord

UNHCR is appealing today for US$99 million to help the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the worsening humanitarian crises in South Sudan and the Central African Republic. The money is both for the South Sudanese and Central Africans who have fled their countries as well as for those who are displaced internally.

South Sudan: In my Shoes

Former refugees bring special insight to their work in South Sudan helping refugees.

Sanna's Flight

Over the last year, air and land attacks on villages in Sudan's Blue Nile state have forced people to flee to South Sudan. Sanna tells her tale of cross-border flight.

South Sudan: Oumi's Story

Oumi fled Sudan with her husband and children three months ago on a journey that proved to be painfully tragic.

Three Conflicts - Three Crises

UNHCR says a multitude of new refugee crises in Africa and the Middle East are stretching its capacity to respond.

South Sudan: Providing Health Care

Mobile clinics and hundred of community workers are mobilized to bring health care to the refugees in Yusuf Batil Refugee Camp.

South Sudan: Helping the Most Vulnerable

UNHCR comes to the assistance of older, disabled and sickly Sudanese refugees arriving in Yusuf Batil Camp.

South Sudan: Jamam Relocation

To escape the seasonal rains UNHCR moves thousands of Sudanese refugees to higher ground.

South Sudan: Nearly Home

The returnees head by bus for their ancestral home in South Sudan. Some are jubilant. Others are apprehensive.

South Sudan: Children near the Frontline

Thousands of Sudanese children trying to escape the disruption of conflict and still go to school have made their way to South Sudan.

South Sudan: Moving to a Safer Place

There is an urgent push to move Sudanese refugees away from the border areas....for their safety and well being.

South Sudan: Surviving the LRA

In South Sudan, former captives of the Lord's Resistance Army get vital help in rebuilding their lives and tackling their lingering fears.

South Sudan: Water Woes

UNHCR faces the challenge of finding much needed water for thousands of refugees in South Sudan.

South Sudan: Fleeing the Nuba Mountains

The conflict in the Nuba region of Sudan is pushing refugees to head as far as Juba in South Sudan.

South Sudan: My Visit

Tens of thousands of people are fleeing violence again in South Sudan.

South Sudan: A Long Journey Home

Since South Sudan gained independence last July, tens of thousands of people have made their way there from neighbouring. They come by boat and road with everything they can carry or push to a land that many have never visited.

Sudan: Heading for a New Home

UNHCR is offering to help move hundreds of people from Sudan to newly independent South Sudan, where they will build new lives. Almost 250 families with ties to the south are waiting for a ride.

South Sudan: Seeking Safety

The number of refugees along the north-eastern border of South Sudan is growing. Some are heading further inland to Jammam Camp, set up by UNHCR a month ago.

South Sudan: Appeal for Doro Camp

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres visits refugees in South Sudan and says international assistance is "absolutely crucial.”

South Sudan: Building a Nation

In the world's newest country, thousands of people displaced by civil war are returning to the south.

South Sudan: Voting for the Future

Voting is under way in South Sudan. The millions who returned to their villages, after decades of war, hope this election could bring positive change and permanent peace.

Refugee Women: A Step Forward

This year International women's day focuses on the economic, social and political achievements of women.Yet each day millions of women around the world struggle to make ends meet. Nowhere is situation more acute than in those countries recovering from conflict. Here's the story of how one group of women is striving for their own economic independence in the hope that one day it will help them return to south Sudan.