JUBA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Save the Children, a global charity, called on the international community on Thursday to prevent the looming humanitarian crisis in South Sudan as conflict continues to ravage neighboring Sudan.
According to the charity, South Sudan is currently receiving about 1,000 people daily who are fleeing Sudan's conflict to the border town of Renk.
"A lot is happening; the children and women are going through a lot. The transit center has a capacity of 3,000, but it has gone beyond," said Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children, during a press conference in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
The country is already experiencing a humanitarian crisis, with 75 percent of the population in need of humanitarian assistance, she said, adding that women and children remain vulnerable and need necessities like water, food, and non-food items, including water, sanitation, and hygiene services in the center.
"We think the support given to South Sudan is inadequate. There is a need for much support, and we call on the parties and organizations working in South Sudan to come together," Ashing said.
Deadly clashes have been ongoing between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), rival factions of the military government of Sudan, since mid-April 2023. The conflict has killed more than 9,000 people, displacing over six million others within and outside Sudan and leaving 25 million in need of aid, according to the United Nations.
Before the Sudan conflict, South Sudan was facing a humanitarian crisis due to years of civil war after gaining independence from Khartoum in 2011. Albino Akol Atak, South Sudan's minister for humanitarian affairs and disaster management, said more than 9 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in South Sudan.
Thousands of returnees and refugees will continue to flee Sudan's conflict to South Sudan as the war persists, Atak said. ■
