US calls for global response for Sudanese refugees in South Sudan

The United States called Wednesday for international donations to address the "dire situation" of a growing Sudanese refugee population in South Sudan, DPA reported.

"We remain deeply committed to meeting the humanitarian needs of the people of South Sudan and urge the international community to join us in our efforts to relieve suffering and assist those affected by the on-going violence," US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.

"The needs are great and in danger of outstripping the humanitarian community's ability to respond."

This week, aid organizations warned that a humanitarian emergency was developing in South Sudan, where up to 35,000 refugees from Sudan have arrived in the last few weeks.

South Sudan now hosts 150,000 refugees from its northern neighbour, the Geneva-based UN refugee agency said.

Antonio Guterres, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, said Monday: "Not only are refugee numbers suddenly much higher, but the condition that many of these people are in is shockingly bad. Some have been eating tree leaves to survive along the way."

The US government has donated more than 34 million dollars, or 23 per cent of the United Nations' call for 145 million dollars to fend off a humanitarian catastrophe, but 70 per cent of that amount remains unfilled, Toner said.

"Humanitarian agencies are still facing a shortage of the resources required to protect and assist the growing refugee population," he said. "An even greater emergency could be on the horizon as the rainy season threatens to severely curtail access to refugee-hosting areas."

Refugees have been fleeing Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states, where remnants of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement North are fighting government forces.

The aid group Doctors Without Borders called it "a real emergency."