Switzerland pledges more money for South Sudan

Swiss aid workers were recently evacuated from South Sudan following the escalation in violence Keystone

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has announced that it will provide additional aid for South Sudan, where thousands have fled the recent violence between rival political factions.

Because the situation is compounding South Sudan’s considerable humanitarian needs, Switzerland has decided to provide an additional CHF2 million ($2 million) to help relieve the suffering there – bringing its total contribution for 2016 to CHF20 million. South Sudan suffers from extreme poverty and a civil war that started in December 2013.

“Switzerland is concerned about the fate of the civilian population of South Sudan following the outbreak of hostilities at the beginning of July 2016 in the capital Juba and other parts of the country,” said the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) in a statementExternal link on Wednesday.

Food and security

Half of the money will go to the South Sudan Common Humanitarian Fund, to which Switzerland has been contributing since 2014. The funds will help finance the operations in the SDC’s three priority sectors in this country: food security, water and the protection of civilians.

The other half will go to the World Food Programme (WFP) to assist efforts to fight food insecurity, which is affecting over four million people in South Sudan.

South Sudan is a priority intervention zone of Swiss Humanitarian Aid, whose budget for this country in 2016 amounted to approximately CHF18 million before this new contribution. 

South Sudan is also a priority country of the FDFA’s Human Security Division (HSD), which has been working to implement the peace agreement concluded in August 2015. The HSD is also involved in the reconciliation efforts and in strengthening local government in collaboration with the traditional authorities. The budget for its peace promotion activities totals about CHF1 million per year.