Roundup: UNHCR strained amid new spate of South Sudanese refugee outflows

The UN refugee agency, or UNHCR, says it is facing a severe funding shortfall for its South Sudan operation amid a new spate of refugee outflows from the war-torn country.

A combination of new fighting in previously peaceful areas, food insecurity in Northern Bahr El Ghazal and Warrap states, and severe humanitarian funding shortages continues to cause a sharp worsening of the situation for many civilians in South Sudan, the UNCHR said in a statement on Tuesday.

"With the Regional Refugee Response Plan funded at just eight percent, many life-saving services are threatened," the statement said.

The UNHCR says recent fighting between government and rebel forces in Western Bahr al Ghazal has displaced more than 96,000 people to Wau town in the northwest.

Meanwhile, all five countries neighbouring South Sudan are seeing rising refugee inflows.

The UNHCR says its camp in Kakuma in northeastern Kenya has recorded a steady increase in new arrivals from South Sudan, with an average of 350 people a week over the past two months, up from 100 people a month at the start of this year.

"So far, Kakuma camp hosts some 4,185 new South Sudanese refugees received in the year, the majority of whom are children and women, mostly from Eastern Equatoria, Upper Nile and Jonglei states, in the east of the country," the statement said.

The refugees cite insecurity, intense famine and the high cost of living as the reasons for their flee, the UNHCR says.

Some 2.3 million people have fled their homes since violence broke out in South Sudan in December 2013, among them some 678,000 abroad as refugees and 1.69 million displaced inside the country, according to the UNHCR.

An estimated 52,000 South Sudanese have fled into Sudan since late January, exceeding projections for 2016. At present they are mainly in East and South Darfur and West Kordofan regions.

The UNHCR says its non-food distributions have begun to all new arrivals in South Darfur and to some of the new arrivals in West Kordofan, while the distributions in East Darfur are expected to start on Wednesday.

The World Food Program has been distributing one-month food rations to new arrivals in East and South Darfur, and is prepared to begin distributions in West Kordofan pending security clearance from authorities.

In Uganda, the UNHCR says, there has seen a sharp increase in refugee arrivals from South Sudan since January, sometimes as many as 800 people per day.

"In all, 28,000 South Sudanese, 86 percent of them women and children, have sought refuge in Uganda," the statement said.

The site Maaji III for the South Sudanese refugees in northwest Uganda is nearing capacity with basic life-saving services being severely stretched, the UNHCR says.

Ethiopia, which hosts some 285,000 South Sudanese refugees, is also seeing a recent -- albeit more modest -- increase in arrivals after a long period of few new refugees, the UNHCR says.

Since April 5, more than 300 new arrivals have been registered at the Okugo refugee camp in Ethiopia's Gambella region.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, some 12,000 South Sudanese have crossed into the country since February, and sought shelter in the northeastern province of Haut-Uele in the past few months, UNHCR says.

The conflict in Western Equatoria region has also forced thousands of South Sudanese to cross the border and seek asylum in the Central African Republic (CAR), according to the UNHCR.

As of April 11, the UNHCR has registered 10,454 South Sudanese refugees in the CAR's eastern town of Bambouti.

The new arrivals in Bambouti greatly outnumber the host community, estimated at around 950 inhabitants, putting a severe strain on resources, the UNHCR says. Endit