Catherine and Nancy address a joint press conference in Juba – Mar 25, 2014

The U.S government has announced an additional 83 million dollars for humanitarian assistance in South Sudan.

The funds will support people who have been displaced by the ongoing crisis.

The US government has already provided four hundred million dollars in humanitarian assistance last year.

The Assistant Administrator at USAID, Nancy Lindbore, said the money will be used by humanitarian agencies for supplying food and medical supplies to the I-D-P-s.

“The funding that we are providing today will help provide urgently needed food, medical supplies, hygiene kits, shelter, the kind of assistance that will help people survive this critical period,” she told reporters.

Madam Lindbore said there is a looming crisis of food insecurity in South Sudan where over a million people are in desperate need of food due to the effects of the conflict.

The Deputy Assistant Secretary of State at the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, Catherine Wiesner, said 15 million dollars from this amount will be used for supporting refugees in the neighboring countries.

“This covers programs for refugees in Kenya, in Ethiopia, in Uganda and in Sudan.  Refugees have continued to arrive every day in these countries, and in fact the daily numbers are increasing.”

Madam Wiesner said the U.S government is concerned about the safety of South Sudanese refugees who crossed the border into Ethiopia.

She said many of these refugees die on the way as they escape for safety.

On Monday, the UN issued a revised appeal for South Sudanese refugees to cover the needs of about 350 thousand people who are expected to arrive in the four neighboring countries.