The European Union’s announcement of a $83.8 million package for the South Sudan refugee crisis has provided a timely boost, but a huge funding gap has been reported.

The EU announced the package on November 11 after a visit by EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides to Uganda’s Bidibidi refugee camp.

The EU also noted that the number of asylum seekers pouring into the region is “expected to grow,” with Mr Stylianides adding that the new funding was crucial in host countries but particularly in South Sudan.

The $649 million requested by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for the South Sudan crisis is only 25 per of the needed humanitarian assistance.

The total number of South Sudanese refugees outside the country as of October 31 was 1,259,036.

The EU envoy noted that Uganda was now “host to the largest number of South Sudanese refugees,” who had reached 450,783, surpassing Ethiopia as the country hosting the largest number of refugees on the African continent.

UNHCR says the financial requirements for South Sudan situation totalled to $649 million, of which only 24 per cent was funded, prompting ongoing assistance in multiple locations to stall.

Despite Brussels coming to the UN refugee agency’s rescue with the package, the UNHCR has a significant funding shortfall.

Allocations

Of this amount, $43 million will be allocated to humanitarian organisations in South Sudan, while $32 million will help South Sudanese refugees in Uganda and a further $8.6 million will fund urgent and lifesaving activities in Sudan The funds will be spent on provision of shelter, nutrition, healthcare and sanitation.

In Tanzania, the German government has offered $11.8 million to the World Food Programme and UNHCR to provide relief services to refugees in the country.

WFP will receive $7 million to directly provide food while the rest will facilitate the operations of non governmental organisations working with refugees in Tanzania, said Egon Kochanke, German ambassador to Tanzania.

According to UNHCR, there are 239,840 refugees in Tanzania, with Burundians and Congolese being the majority.

Until October this year, 9,127 people had registered in Tanzania from Burundi, and about 798 from the Democratic Republic of Congo while 15 came from Syria.

Since fighting erupted in South Sudan in December 2013, the EU has been one of the biggest donors of the world’s youngest nation, providing close to a billion dollars to date.

In spite of pumping in this amount of aid, the EU termed the situation as “the worst food security crisis since Independence” with “virtually no healthcare services.”

Additional reporting by Beatrice Materu.