Donors Commit $1.2 Billion to South Sudan Relief

(JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN) – The United Nations says donors have so far contributed close to $1.2 billion (SSP 7.8 trillion) for humanitarian action in South Sudan.

This includes over $980 million (SSP 6.37 trillion) for projects in the South Sudan Crisis Response Plan.

The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that in order to enhance transparency of the flow of resources for humanitarian action in South Sudan and other emergencies around the world, the UN maintains an online system called the Financial Tracking Service.

UN OCHA says this public system tracks donations in real time, specifying which organisation has received resources for which projects.

The Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, says the Financial Tracking Service is one of the tools the UN uses to make sure that the aid operation is transparent and accountable to the people they are serving.

He says users of the Financial Tracking Service can download pre-prepared tables detailing donors and recipients of funds, create customised searches or focus on specific sectors or organisations.

They will also be able to compare financing flows between different crises across the globe.

Lanzer also said the UN agencies and non-governmental organisations will launch the planning for the 2015 aid operation in South Sudan at the beginning of next month.

He said the planning is to take place in close collaboration with South Sudanese people and institutions and authorities at local, state and national levels in order to help inform the aid community’s response to the ongoing crisis.

In related news, Nepal has rotated its peacekeepers deployed in the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.

A first batch of 203 peacekeepers from Shree Narayandala Battalion (Peace Army) 16th contingent departed for the mission area on 15th October to replace Shree Naya Gorakh Battalion (Peace Army) 15th contingent deployed in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) at the call of the United Nations, the Nepali Army informed on Thursday.

The 203 Nepali peacekeepers who completed their tenure in the mission returned to the country on the same day.

Currently, 1,069 Nepali peacekeepers are working in the said mission in South Sudan.