South Sudan: South Sudan Situation: UNHCR Regional Update 81 (25 November – 10 December 2015)

HIGHLIGHTS

• A Regional Refugee Response Plan for 2016 was developed with participation of 45 partners in the five respective countries. The total budget amounts to USD 637.5 million for 938,407 refugees (including pre‐ and –post Dec. 2013 South Sudanese refugees).
• In Ethiopia, UNHCR is fully engaged in the Humanitarian Country Team, where refugee programmes are discussed strategically to ensure that their needs are adequately presented and addressed.
• In Kenya, the ECHO Desk Officer for the country and ECHO Communications Officer for East, Central and Southern Africa were in Kakuma for a day mission. The mission focused on ECHO support to humanitarian assistance for refugees in the camp. The team was briefed on the operation by the Head of sub‐office and later visited specific ECHO funded projects in the camp.
• In Sudan, individual registration was completed in Al Alagay, Dabat Bosin and El Kashafa sites. As anticipated, the preliminary results indicate a decrease in the campbased refugee numbers and an overall adjustment will be made when the registration exercise is completed in all sites by the end of January 2016.
• In Uganda, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) stopped registration of South Sudanese new arrivals because of the on‐going refugee verification process. The registration and relocation process will start after completion of refugee verification. UNHCR is consulting with OPM to find a way of running both processes in parallel. From 27 November to 8 December, 1,282 new arrivals from South Sudan ‐ almost twice the number of the previous reporting period (758) ‐were reported. They came from Elegu and Kuluba collection points. The sharp rise in the refugee influx has been attributed to clashes between state security forces and local rebel groups in different parts of South Sudan which forced many people to flee. New arrivals also cite hunger and inadequate humanitarian support as other factors influencing their flight. The inflow of new South Sudanese arrivals is currently unpredictable because of sporadic armed and tribal clashes.
• In South Sudan, the US Ambassador visits Ajuong Thok with UNHCR ‐ UNHCR organized a one‐day field trip for the US Ambassador to South Sudan, Molly Phee, joined by a delegation of donor countries including Canada, ECHO and DFID. The aim of the visit was to enable Ambassador Phee to understand the situation of refugees fleeing South Kordofan, appraise the impact of US contributions on refugees’ living conditions and show solidarity with the refugees. Congolese refugees from Ezo settlement flee to the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Ezo settlement in South Sudan, which was originally home to nearly 3,300 Congolese refugees, is now virtually empty, with the remaining refugee families having fled to nearby fields. UNHCR begins registration of Burundian asylum‐seekers: In Juba, UNHCR and South Sudan’s Commission for Refugee Affairs began on 2 December the registration and profiling of Burundian nationals who have sought asylum in South Sudan due to the recent violence in their country. To date, a total of 143 individuals (37 females and 107 males) have been registered at UNHCR’s temporary registration centre.