25 December 2013 - To tackle immediate needs of people affected by violence in South Sudan, aid agencies will need $166 million from now until March 2014, according to a statement released today.

The statement by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs noted that this included emergency programmes for some 200,000 refugees from Sudan in Unity and Upper Nile states of South Sudan.

“The resources will be used to provide clean water and sanitation, healthcare, shelter, and deliver food and livelihood assistance,” the statement said. “It will also ensure that vulnerable people’s rights, including survivors of violence, are better protected.”

Funding will also be needed to manage sites for displaced people and transport aid workers and supplies to strategic locations where communities are most at risk.

“It is crucial that aid agencies have the resources they need to save lives in the coming months,” said Toby Lanzer, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan. “There are at least 90,000 people who have been displaced in the past ten days.”

Mr. Lanzer noted that the total displaced included 58,000 people who were sheltering in UN peacekeeping bases, which represented only a share of people who must be reached in coming weeks.

Hundreds of thousands more people could need aid in currently inaccessible areas, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The UN anticipates that up to 800,000 individuals will need assistance due to the conflict.

Aid agencies are already responding to the crisis and will further scale up work in key locations with specialized staff and emergency supplies, the OCHA statement said.

“In Bor and Bentiu this week, I have seen just how badly the communities caught in violence need our help,” Mr. Lanzer said. “I hope that donors and compassionate people around the world act swiftly to give aid agencies the required resources to help the people of South Sudan at this critical juncture.”