UN Seeks $1.5Bln To Assist Over 5Mln South Sudanese In 2020 - OCHA

UN Seeks $1.5Bln to Assist Over 5Mln South Sudanese in 2020 - OCHA

The United Nations aims to mobilize $1.5 billion to address urgent humanitarian needs of more than five million vulnerable people in South Sudan in 2020, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a press release on Thursday

UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th December, 2019) The United Nations aims to mobilize $1.5 billion to address urgent humanitarian needs of more than five million vulnerable people in South Sudan in 2020, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a press release on Thursday.

"The humanitarian community today officially launched the South Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan for 2020," the release said. "The plan requests US$1.5 billion to reach 5.6 million people with urgent life-saving assistance."

UN Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan Alain Noudehou also said in the release that, currently, some 7.5 million South Sudanese require humanitarian help or protection, while another 3.7 million are displaced inside or outside of the country.

Meanwhile, the World food Program said that due to drought, floods and political insecurity in the country, up to 5.5 million people are projected to be going hungry in the first months of 2020, and this number is likely to increase.

UN Food Agency added that in 2019, almost 1 million people had been affected by flooding that destroyed 73,000 metric tons of harvests and killed cattle and goats, which help South Sudanese to survive.