UN rolls out $1.6bn appeal for refugees in 7 countries

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and 123 partners have appealed for $1.6 billion to support millions of people in seven countries who were forced to flee their homes in pursuit of safety.

UNHCR made the call on Tuesday in a statement as the war in Sudan approaches a fourth year.

The 2026 Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRRP) aims to deliver lifesaving assistance this year to 5.9 million people across seven neighbouring countries: the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan and Uganda.

The plan will continue to prioritise aid for roughly 470,000 new refugees who are expected to cross into these countries, as well as thousands more who remain in border areas and have received only the most basic assistance.

The Sudan war erupted in mid-April 2023, with the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) locked in a brutal power struggle.

Mamadou Dian Balde, UNHCR’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said the need for a fourth annual appeal underscores the relentless impact of the war and a humanitarian response struggling to keep up.

“Sudan remains the world’s largest displacement and worst humanitarian crisis, unfolding in the wake of the most severe global funding crunch in decades,” he told journalists in Geneva.

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As fighting continues in several parts of the country, essential services have collapsed while humanitarian access remains restricted in many areas.

“Thousands of people continue to flee across borders each week, often arriving in already vulnerable yet generous regions, where public services and economic opportunities were limited even before the crisis,” he said.

Some 4.3 million Sudanese refugees remain displaced within the region, most of whom are in Egypt and eastern Chad.

Balde noted that “while host governments and local communities continue to demonstrate remarkable solidarity, their capacity is being pushed to the brink.”

Egypt currently hosts 1.4 million Sudanese who have fled the war and registered refugee figures have nearly quadrupled since 2023.

“Yet severe funding cuts have forced UNHCR to close two of its three registration centres, affecting people’s access to critical protection services,” he said. Moreover, available funding per refugee per month has dropped from $11 to $4.

In eastern Chad, more than 71,000 refugee families have not received housing assistance, meaning they do not have safe and adequate shelter. “Nearly 234,000 people are awaiting relocation, living in precarious conditions at the border,” he added.

Meanwhile, in Uganda, clinic closures and the suspension of critical nutrition programmes in Kiryandongo settlement put thousands of Sudanese refugees at heightened risk of diseases.

Balde stressed that despite these constraints, the 2026 plan “will continue to support host countries in providing critical basic services, including food, shelter, healthcare and protection services for new arrivals and the most vulnerable refugees.”

He warned, however, that “the widening gap between rising needs and shrinking resources threatens to undermine both emergency response efforts and medium-term solutions.”

In the interim, UNHCR continues to call for stronger international support to address the persistent underfunding of humanitarian operations in the countries hosting people fleeing Sudan.

NAN