Anne Richard, the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Migration, and Refugees, has just concluded a one day visit to Yida and Maban refugee camps in Upper Nile and Unity states to assess the humanitarian situation there.

Both areas were sheltering large refugee populations already since 2011 when civil war erupted in South Sudan in December 2013, cutting off relief supplies that otherwise would have been brought in by road through the south.

Speaking to reporters at Juba Airport upon her arrival back to Juba with US Ambassador Susan D. Page, Richard said that the United State is been offering assistance to victims of the conflict in South Sudan, but said the funding would not be enough unless the war stops.

The United Nation reported recently that about that 1.6 million South Sudanese are displaced: almost half of million are refugees in neighboring countries and 1.1 million are displaced internally. Several hundred thousand Sudanese refugees are also affected.

Richard stated that she has also traveled to Gambela, Ethiopia, where she met with refugees from South Sudan’s eastern states. She said they had walked from villages that suffered “a great deal of violence”.

“The United States is working to end the crisis in South Sudan by supporting IGAD-led talks, engaging the government and opposition, and representatives of South Sudan’s civil society and supporting efforts to promote justice, reconciliation and accountability,” she added. 

Richard also pointed out that the US Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan has been in Addis Ababa engaging the two parties to the conflict and urging the peace talks to resume.  

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