48.5 million euros of emergency humanitarian aid has been released for vulnerable populations in Southern Sudan, the European Commission announced on Thursday 20 June, the day the decision to grant this additional aid was taken.
Despite the signing of a peace agreement, nearly two million people remain internally displaced and nearly seven million are in urgent need of food aid, the institution said. This assistance will support the protection of the most vulnerable, food and nutrition assistance, basic health care in hard-to-reach areas and accelerated education programmes for children who lost out on years of schooling in conflict-affected areas.
"On World Refugee Day, let us not forget the four million South Sudanese who remain uprooted, whether in their country or as refugees in the region", said Christos Stylianides, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, quoted in a statement.
This EU funding, from ECHO's budget (the Commission's humanitarian aid department), is in addition to the one million euros in emergency aid released last week to help South Sudan prevent the Ebola virus in neighbouring DRC (see EUROPE 12274/34). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)