The plan will continue to prioritize assistance to approximately 470,000 new refugees expected to enter these countries, as well as thousands of others left in border areas who have received only the most basic assistance.
The world’s largest displacement crisis
War broke out in Sudan in mid-April 2023, with the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) engaged in a brutal power struggle.
Mamadou Dian Balde, UNHCR’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said The need for a fourth annual appeal underlines the brutal impact of the war and a humanitarian response that is struggling to keep pace.
“Sudan remains the world’s largest displacement and worst humanitarian crisis, playing out in the wake of the worst global financing crisis in decades,” he told journalists in Geneva.
As fighting continues in several parts of the country, essential services have collapsed, while humanitarian access remains limited in many areas.
“Thousands of people continue to flee across borders every week, often arriving in already vulnerable but generous regions, where public services and economic opportunities were limited even before the crisis,” he said.
Host communities ‘pushed to the brink’
About 4.3 million Sudanese refugees remain displaced in the region, most of whom are in Egypt and eastern Chad.
Mr. Balde noted that “While host governments and local communities continue to show remarkable solidarity, their capacity is being stretched to the limit.”
Egypt is currently home to 1.4 million Sudanese who have fled the war and the number of registered refugees has almost quadrupled since 2023.
“Yet severe budget cuts have forced the UNHCR to close two of its three registration centres, affecting people’s access to crucial protection services,” he said. In addition, available funding per refugee per month has fallen from $11 to $4.
In eastern Chad, more than 71,000 refugee families have not received housing support, meaning they lack safe and adequate shelter. “Nearly 234,000 people are awaiting relocation and living in precarious conditions at the border,” he added.
Meanwhile, the closure of clinics and suspension of crucial nutrition programs in Uganda’s Kiryandongo settlement puts thousands of Sudanese refugees at increased risk of disease.
Rising needs, shrinking resources
Mr. Balde emphasized that despite these limitations, the 2026 plan “will continue to support host countries in providing critical basic services, including food, shelter, health and protection services for new arrivals and the most vulnerable refugees.”
However, he warned that “the widening gap between rising needs and shrinking resources threatens to undermine both emergency response efforts and medium-term solutions.”
In the meantime, UNHCR continues to call for stronger international support to address the persistent underfunding of humanitarian operations in the countries hosting people fleeing Sudan.
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