People wait next to passenger buses as smoke billows in an area in Khartoum where fighting continues between Sudan's army and the paramilitary forces on April 28, 2023. PHOTO/ AFP

At least 700 South Sudanese nationals stranded in the Sudanese capital Khartoum are in a dire humanitarian situation and require urgent and coordinated assistance to return to their country, traditional leaders have said.

The refugees currently residing in the Green Valley area north of Khartoum – fled their homes in Upper Nile State following the outbreak of South Sudan civil war in December 2013.

They initially thought the Sudanese conflict which erupted between the army and paramilitary RSF in April 2023, would end soon, but the war has since escalated and edges towards its second anniversary.

The stranded civilians are calling on the South Sudan government, diaspora compatriots, humanitarian actors, and compassionate donors to raise funds and coordinate their evacuation.

Paramount Chief Othow Ajak said his people are currently living in difficult condition with inadequate basic necessities and the threat that the constant fighting poses to their safety.

“We appeal to the government, citizens of South Sudan in the diaspora, and compassionate hearts to help us leave Khartoum for South Sudan,” Othow said in an interview with Eye Radio on Saturday.

“We are currently living in harsh conditions here, and we hope you will save us. We are living here with about 700 citizens, and with us are the elderly, a large number of children, widows, and the sick.”

Mr. Othow said the refugees can hardly afford to eat due to the limited access to humanitarian assistance, while there is currently no safe passage out of Khartoum.

“As the war continues and we do not know when it will end, we are in difficult situation. We do not even have money. We needu to support us and transfer us from Khartoum to South Sudan.”

Another local chief, Khames Dak, describes the refugees situation as miserable due to a lack of food, shelter, and means of income.

“We are in a miserable situation. We live without shelter or food. Even the simple jobs that used to be available are not longer there. The war has continued for the second year, we suffer from diseases and our children are not in school,” he said.

“Even the women who used to work as tea sellers have suffered from beatings and robberies. We appeal for support to get out of this predicament. We do not own anything.”

South Sudan has one of Africa’s most significant refugee crises, with 2.3 million refugees and asylum seekers in neighboring countries and a further 2 million others internally displaced within their own country by conflict or natural disasters.

Although 640,000 South Sudanese returned home between April 2023 and October 2024, thousands more are still in Sudan due to the ongoing conflict and face dire living conditions and uncertainty about their future.

In May 2024, 2,500 refugees were successfully repatriated from Sudan’s White Nile State to Manyo County in Upper Nile after Collo communities in the Equatoria region held a fundraising initiative.