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The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has appealed for $1.6 billion to support millions of refugees displaced across seven countries.
To address the refugee crisis in Sudan, which has been engulfed in a war since 2023, when fighting broke out between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the UN agency launched the 2026 Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRRP).
According to UNHCR, the plan aims to assist nearly 6 million people across 7 African countries: the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan, and Uganda.
It added that over 400,000 new refugees are expected to cross into these countries, and thousands of others who remain in border areas and have received only the most basic assistance will be prioritised in the 2026 Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRRP).
While speaking to journalists in Geneva, the UNHCR’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Mamadou Dian Balde, described the war in Sudan as the world’s largest displacement and worst humanitarian crisis.
“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,” said Balde.
Balde added that host governments and local communities that have welcomed refugees displaced by the crisis lack adequate resources to support them, and that the UN has been forced to close two of its three registration centres due to funding cuts.
Refugees across the continent continue to grapple with multiple hardships. In Chad, for instance, more than 71,000 refugee families have not received housing assistance while over 200,000 people are awaiting relocation, living in harsh conditions at the border. Thousands of Sudanese refugees are at risk of diseases due to the closure of clinics and the suspension of critical nutrition programmes in Uganda.
Balde emphasised that despite these numerous challenges, the UN agency will continue to support host countries in providing critical basic services.
