South Sudan: Humanitarian Access Snapshot (December 2024)

In December, humanitarian actors in South Sudan continued to face challenges in delivering life-saving assistance to vulnerable populations. A total of 28 access-related incidents were reported, including violence and threats to both personnel and assets, bureaucratic impediments and physical access constraints. Incidents of threats, robbery, burglary, banditry, and extortion targeting humanitarian staff were reported in Central Equatoria, GPAA, Unity, Warrap, Jonglei and Abyei along critical supply routes. In Juba, two humanitarian workers were violently robbed at gunpoint. In GPAA, armed criminals attacked two INGO vehicles, stealing cash, phones, and other personal belongings. In Unity State, criminals looted an INGO storage facility in Rotriak, stealing plastic sheets. A borehole drilling team was also attacked, leaving one injured with fuel and car batteries stolen. These incidents highlight risks along supply routes due to increasing criminal activity.

Bureaucratic impediments persisted, including the demand for additional registration of humanitarian service providers in Upper Nile, illegal checkpoints along Warrap-Bentiu supply routes and interference in staff recruitment in Unity State. These barriers disrupted logistics, delayed response and hampered efforts to combat an escalating cholera outbreak in Bentiu. Physical access to islands in Twic East and Pigi Canal Counties in Jonglei State remained severely constrained, again undermining critical responses to a cholera outbreak in River Nile communities. These obstacles impact service delivery to hundreds of thousands of people and underscore the importance of ensuring unhindered humanitarian access to effectively protect and assist vulnerable populations.