HIGHLIGHTS AND PRIORITIES
• Hostilities and new inter-communal clashes in Jonglei State further deteriorated the humanitarian situation and tens of thousands of people were displaced. Aid organizations mounted a response operation in several areas of Pibor County following access negotiations with parties to the hostilities.
• Humanitarian operations across South Sudan remained affected by access constraints, including active hostilities, violence against personnel and assets, bureaucratic impediments and logistical obstacles. 129 access incidents were recorded in the first half of 2013.
• Low refugee arrivals from Sudan led aid organizations to shift focus from crisis response to improving living conditions of 192,000 people living in Unity and Upper Nile states.
• Aid organizations continued to provide assistance to 26,000 people in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, many of whom have been forcibly displaced from Sudan and the disputed Mile 14 border area since April 2012.
• South Sudanese continued to arrive home from Sudan, but in low numbers, with an average of 1,200 people arriving per week between May and August. So far about 60,000 people have returned as of the end of July 2013.
• Humanitarian partners revised funding requirements in June and asked for US$1.07 billion to assist 3 million vulnerable people across the country, until the end of 2013. As of 31 August, the Consolidated Appeal was 59 per cent funded, with $436 million yet to be raised until the end of the year.
