Hundreds of returnees and refugees being ferried from Upper Nile border areas. (UNHCR/Facebook).

About 375,000 people including refugees and returnees have now been registered entering South Sudan from war-torn Sudan since April 15, according to a humanitarian agency.

UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the hundreds of thousands arrived in South Sudan as of November 13, out of the over 1 million displaced from Sudan to neighboring countries.

According to OCHA, at least 18,000 new arrivals entered South Sudan between 22 and 28 October amid difficult conditions caused by muddy roads, insecurities and lack of resources.

“Poor road conditions caused by rains, insecurity and resource constraints continued to restrict the onward transportation of new arrivals from Renk,” the agency said.

“The limited transport resulted in a growing population of refugees and returnees in Renk,
with over 24,000 people staying longer than the planned duration of food assistance.”

The agency said proportion of newly arrived Sudanese refugees in South Sudan averaged 52 per cent in October but reduced to 38 per cent in the first week of November.

“The reduction in the number of refugees was attributed to the positive impact of biometric registration, which is being introduced as part of the cash assistance programme,” OCHA said in the report.

“New arrivals continue to share information on incidents related to insecurity, torture and harassment along the route to Amiet, mainly outside Abyei.”

The latest Intergrated Food Security Classification Phase (IPC) indicates that South Sudan remains one of the countries with the highest number of food-insecure people globally.

“Approximately 46 per cent of the population is experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity classified as IPC Phase 3 or above (crisis or worse). Of these, 35,000 people are projected in IPC Phase 5 (catastrophe), including 14,000 South Sudanese returnees.”

OCHA further noted that the situation in Sudan remains volatile, with fighting in the southern states that may result in more people trying to reach Renk through the Wunthou/Joda border.