U.S Officials respond to TOP AFRICA NEWS on the situation of South Sudan refugees in Palabek as new Humanitarian assistance is announced
The United States’ Officials have responded to TOP AFRICA NEWS website Manager Mr. DUSABEMUNGU Ange de la Victoire who was curious to know if United States is aware of living conditions of South Sudanese refugees scattered in regional countries and especially those who live in Palabek Refugee Camp in Uganda.
TOP AFRICA NEWS website reporter seized the opportunity to ask about South Soudan Refugees on September 25th Briefing with U.S Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration Richard Albright and Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance Max Primorac.
The Briefing was attended by various journalists from the African continent and the South Soudan Humanitarian case received enough attention during the briefing.
On the Issue of South Soudan Refugees in Palabek Refugee camp, the moderator informs the U.S delegates that “Mr. Dusabemungu Ange de la Victoire of Top Africa News out of Rwanda question is as following: “I would like to know more about the U.S. humanitarian – how it supports given to the South Sudanese refugees hosted in Palabek, in Uganda. Do you have any information about those refugees? If yes, let’s know about their situations and future plans that the U.S. Government has for them. What about their return to their homeland and what is the U.S.’s concern about them? With some information that we get from Salesians of Don Bosco who live there, it is clear that the refugees need to be supported, especially during this time of COVID-19. How do you think the U.S. humanitarian support can help these refugees during this time and how much has the U.S. invested so far in the refugees across Africa and the East Africa region?”
Despite no response on repatriation of South Sudan refugees from host countries, the question was not undermined as responses from both leaders showed that the United States is still taking South Soudan refugees as people who still need the Humanitarian assistance and the commitment is still there.
DAS Albright: Well, thank you for your interest and those questions. So I think as I said in my opening remarks, there are – Uganda is hosting 880,000 refugees from South Sudan in addition to another 400,000 from the DRC. And we provide humanitarian assistance through – primarily through the UN High Commissioner for Refugees but also other organizations and multiple nongovernmental organizations, and that reaches – most of the South Sudanese refugees are in the north of Uganda, and Palabek is one of the camps that’s near Bidi Bidi in the north where the population is concentrated.
Our – we have provided so far this year $322 million for the response to the South Sudan crisis. Now, our funding isn’t always easy to identify specifically per country because we respond to the crisis affecting the population. So our – the 322 million I cited supports refugees who are not only in Uganda but in Ethiopia, in Kenya, in Sudan who are from South Sudan. So – but there is a significant portion of that that is supporting those refugees in Uganda, and that supports them with shelter, health care, water and sanitation, livelihoods, protection from gender-based violence, helps them find – get themselves registered, get access to services and employment. And we work very closely as well with host communities to assure – to help them with the burden of bearing these large populations, and work very closely with the Ugandan authorities on access to services and matters of security as well. Over.
Mr. Primorac: Just to add to what DAS Albright just said, as I mentioned in my remarks, nearly half of the $6 billion that we’re providing globally is going to Africa. And taking South Sudan as an example, in our Fiscal Year 2020 the amount is almost a billion dollars, over $900 million. And since 2013 we have provided South Sudan nearly five and a half billion dollars. And USAID with its aid to South Sudan is reaching more than a million, or 1.3 million, people each month. And the kinds of things that we’re providing include food, nutrition, medical care, improved sanitation, shelter, safe drinking water, and protection for vulnerable communities that are affected by the conflict. I think it’s important to note that we have on–the–ground disaster assistance response teams, or DARTs, that are there and they work very closely with host governments, very closely with international agencies, and they are constantly monitoring the situation as to how well we are meeting the needs and also identifying whether or not we need to increase our support.
So we are – we have a very strong humanitarian footprint in Africa. We are – we tend to be the largest donor for the countries on the humanitarian aid assistance front, and we’re always poised to be able to identify new humanitarian aid needs. Thank you.
Find the Full transcript of the briefing on this link: https://www.state.gov/briefing-on-u-s-leadership-and-humanitarian-assistance/
