UNHCR DRC emergency update on South Sudanese refugee situation

As of 30th July 2017, 82,322 South Sudanese refugees were registered or pre-registered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

---

Fighting in South Sudan in proximity to the border with the Haut-Uélé and Ituri provinces was ongoing and continued to cause a flow of refugees arriving in the DRC. During the reporting week, 424 South Sudanese refugees were registered at the Meri site (Haut-Uélé province) and Biringi site (Ituri province), compared to 575 of the previous week.

KEY INDICATORS

82,322 South Sudanese refugees registered and pre-registered as of 23rd July 2017

53% Percentage of the refugees are women and girls

27,366 South Sudanese refugees living in refugee sites of Meri and Biringi

Update on Achievements

Operational Context

• Haut-Uélé province: following clashes between the South Sudanese Armed Forces (SPLA) and the anti-governmental forces (SPLA-IO) in Kaya and Tore, refugees continued to arrive at the Meri site (and to a lesser extend at the Biringi site). Moreover, the presence and activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the Haut-Uélé province remained a concern with civilians being among the main target. The understaffed police and Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) in the region and the difficulties to access many zones remained the main obstacles to counter the armed groups. Assistance to the refugees residing in the proximity of the border north of Doruma remained suspended until the security situation improves.
• Ituri province: the continued presence of over a thousand unidentified armed troops was reported in the border areas of the Aru territory around the locality of Kakwa. A large number of South Sudanese refugees reside along this border. It seemed troops wore uniforms but neither those of the Congolese, Ugandan nor South Sudanese army have been reported to legally cross into the DRC to get food provisions in places such as Agoroba, Olendere and Bula.

Original source: UNHCR. 
Posted on 9 August 2017.