UNHCR: $1.6 bn needed to support 4.3 million Sudanese refugees

As the war in Sudan approaches a fourth year, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and 123 partners appealed on Tuesday for $1.6 billion to support millions of people forced to flee the country in pursuit of safety.

In a statement yesterday, the UNHCR says that its appeal aims to deliver lifesaving assistance this year to 5.9 million people across seven neighbouring countries: the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan and Uganda. The UNHCR 2026 Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRRP) will prioritise aid to roughly 470,000 new refugees who are expected to cross into these countries, as well as thousands more who remain in border areas and have received only the most basic assistance.

UNHCR Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Mamadou Dian Balde, says the need for a fourth annual appeal underscores the relentless impact of the war and a humanitarian response struggling to keep up.

“Sudan remains the world’s largest displacement and worst humanitarian crisis, unfolding in the wake of the most severe global funding crunch in decades,” he told journalists in Geneva.

As fighting continues in several parts of the country, essential services have collapsed while humanitarian access remains restricted in many areas.

“Thousands of people continue to flee across borders each week, often arriving in already vulnerable yet generous regions, where public services and economic opportunities were limited even before the crisis,” he said.

Host communities ‘pushed to the brink’

Some 4.3 million Sudanese refugees remain displaced within the region, most of whom are in Egypt and eastern Chad.

Balde noted that “while host governments and local communities continue to demonstrate remarkable solidarity, their capacity is being pushed to the brink.”

Egypt currently hosts 1.4 million Sudanese who have fled the war and registered refugee figures have nearly quadrupled since 2023.

“Yet severe funding cuts have forced UNHCR to close two of its three registration centres, affecting people’s access to critical protection services,” he said.  Moreover, available funding per refugee per month has dropped from $11 to $4.

In eastern Chad, more than 71,000 refugee families have not received housing assistance, meaning they do not have safe and adequate shelter. “Nearly 234,000 people are awaiting relocation, living in precarious conditions at the border,” he added.

Meanwhile in Uganda, clinic closures and the suspension of critical nutrition programmes in Kiryandongo settlement put thousands of Sudanese refugees at heightened risk of diseases.

Rising needs, shrinking resources

Balde stressed that despite these constraints, the 2026 plan “will continue to support host countries in providing critical basic services, including food, shelter, healthcare and protection services for new arrivals and the most vulnerable refugees.”

He warned, however, that “the widening gap between rising needs and shrinking resources threatens to undermine both emergency response efforts and medium-term solutions.” Balde concludes that in the interim, UNHCR continues to call for stronger international support to address the persistent underfunding of humanitarian operations in the countries hosting people fleeing Sudan.