International and local non-governmental organisations working in South Sudan have advised the United Kingdom (UK) against cutting vital aid.
The organisations gave the advice following reports that the UK government was considering a 59 percent budget cut to vital international aid.
South Sudan is facing food insecurity at a number of locations across, with over 60 percent of its population projected to face crisis or worse levels of food insecurity.
Humanitarian assistance is one of the only factors keeping thousands of people from succumbing to malnutrition and death.
Severe humanitarian needs across the country have significantly worsened due to a combination of flooding, displacement, and protracted sub-national violence.
According to the humanitarian organisations – including Action Africa Help (AAH), Action Against Hunger (ACF), Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Oxfam, Plan International South Sudan – the UK has long played an important role in bolstering the country’s progress with humanitarian support.
‘There is no doubt that the anticipated cuts will cost lives, and undermine significant, longterm progress made with UK funding to date – from saving lives with access to food and safe water, to reducing violence through support for locally-led peacebuilding, and interventions to reduce gender-based violence’, they said in a statement.
‘It is vital that the UK continues to invest in both humanitarian response and longer-term action that builds resilience and integrates disaster risk reduction in the country’.
They further said, ‘After years of engagement and investment, for the UK to step back now would constitute a crushing blow to the people of South Sudan’.
The organisations said the sustained support of the international community in a country coming out of a painful civil war is critical.
Source: NRC
Photo source: NRC
