A $37 Million Aid Gap Could Push Refugees Back Toward a War Zone

More than 650,000 refugees and asylum seekers in South Sudan risk losing access to food assistance within weeks. The World Food Programme needs another $37 million to sustain refugee operations from October through December. Without it, the remaining food distributions for the most vulnerable refugee families will end in September and no refugee in South Sudan will receive food assistance beginning in October.

The 240,000 refugees still receiving WFP support are already surviving on half-rations after earlier funding shortages forced the agency to progressively reduce assistance. Families are cutting meals, selling possessions, taking on debt and removing children from school. Women and children face increased risks of exploitation and abuse. Some refugees have already asked UNHCR to help them return to Sudan even though the refugee agency does not consider conditions there safe for return.

Sudan has been at war since 2023, producing one of the world’s largest displacement crises. UNHCR says more than 3.2 million people have fled the country into neighboring states, while millions more remain internally displaced. South Sudan continues to receive roughly 3,000 refugees and returnees each week even while its humanitarian infrastructure is losing the money needed to support those already there.

South Sudan is also experiencing one of the world’s worst hunger emergencies itself. More than 7.8 million people — over half the population — are acutely food insecure, and 2.2 million children are acutely malnourished. WFP says its overall 2026 funding shortfall now threatens assistance for millions of food-insecure people, not only refugees. Beginning in October, support for about 180,000 internally displaced people is also expected to cease, and by November roughly 600,000 people living in famine-risk areas could lose life-saving assistance.

UNHCR has received only 28% of the $286 million it says it needs this year for its work in South Sudan. Funding shortages threaten not only emergency food but farming, vocational training and other programs intended to reduce long-term dependency on humanitarian assistance.