Urgent Humanitarian Aid Needed For 80,000 Sudanese Refugees

Driven by fighting in Sudan’s Blue Nile State, tens of thousands of refugees now in camps across the border in South Sudan need assistance before the looming rainy season renders the area impassable.

“The refugees are left almost completely reliant on humanitarian assistance because the area has scarce water and food,” said Julien Matter, MSF emergency coordinator. “The sheer number of refugees fleeing here has grown far beyond anything anyone anticipated. Providing the bare survival essentials now, and over the coming rainy season, will be a serious challenge in such a remote place,” he said.

Newly arriving refugees speak of ongoing bombing and fighting in Sudan’s Blue Nile State. While people have sought safety in the Doro and Jamam camps, they have encountered a harsh environment where their ability to survive is stretched to the breaking point.

Photo: South Sudan 2012 © Robin Meldrum/MSF
Refugees in the Jamam camp in South Sudan, after having fled fighting and bombing in Blue Nile State across the border in Sudan.