HIGHLIGHTS
UNHCR reaches 1,200 vulnerable IDPs in Western Bahr al Ghazal – UNHCR provided sanitary pads, blankets and kitchen sets to some 1,200 vulnerable women in Mboro, as part of an inter-agency response to 5,000 internally displaced people from Wau County.
More Sudanese refugees arrive in South Sudan - 944 Sudanese from South Kordofan arrived in Yida in the last two weeks of April, representing a 45 percent increase compared to the first two weeks of April. The new arrivals reported hunger, aerial bombardments and ground fighting as the main reasons for fleeing to South Sudan.
A new community centre for refugees and IDPs opens in Juba - UNHCR partner Humane Development Consortium opened a Community Centre at Juba’s Gudele suburb to provide individual protection and legal counseling for refugees and internally displaced people and to serve as a referral hub for persons with specific needs.
Thousands of refugees join an agriculture fair in Central Equatoria - UNHCR, the Food and Agriculture Organization and UMCOR organized Agriculture Input Trade Fair for 1,400 refugee and host community families in Lasu settlement to enable them to access a wider range of crop seeds for the current planning season, including rice, groundnuts, beans, sesame, maize and sorghum. During the fair, refugees were provided with agricultural tools.
OPERATIONAL CONTEXT
OnApril, the South Sudan First Vice President Designate Dr. Riek Machar arrived in Juba after a week-‐long delay and was subsequently sworn in as the first vice-‐president in a newly Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU), which will run the country for months.
The return of Dr. Machar is a vital part of the deal aimed at ending more than two years of conflict that has killed tens of thousands and left two million people homeless since the war broke out in mid-‐December 2013. The full list of Government ministerial portfolios was announced on Thursday April, with cabinet ministers being sworn in Friday May.
Security in Juba remains calm but fragile, while pockets of localized conflict continue in some areas of the country, including Northern Bahr El Ghazal.On April, Aly Verjee, the former acting chief of staff for the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (JMEC), which oversees the implementation of peace deal, departed South Sudan after being declared persona non grata in the country. Verjee’s previous employment with the IGAD secretariat was noted among the reasons for expulsion.