The arrivals begin before dawn.
asserted
arrivals → begin → dawn
Women carry children and plastic bags; men walk with almost nothing.
asserted
men → carry → nothing
Every week, about 3,000 refugees and returnees cross into South Sudan from Sudan.
asserted
refugees → cross → Sudan
Many arrive hungry, exhausted and with little or no money.
asserted
Many → arrive → money
But the food assistance they depend on is also running out.
asserted
they → depend → ?
More than one million vulnerable people could lose access to life-saving food and nutrition assistance by October unless additional resources are secured, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).
uncertain
resources → lose → Programme
In Malakal, one of the agency’s key logistics hubs in the Upper Nile state, food stocks have fallen from 10,000 metric tonnes at this time last year to less than 300 tonnes now.
asserted
stocks → fall → tonnes
The drop comes as humanitarian agencies face shrinking resources while needs continue to rise, WFP says.
asserted
WFP → come → resources
WFP assistant executive director Matthew Hollingworth visited Renk and Malakal in Upper Nile and Pigi county in Jonglei state this month, where he witnessed firsthand the pressures facing communities already struggling with conflict, displacement, hunger and climate shocks.
asserted
he → visit → conflict
Hollingworth told Al Jazeera that the war in Sudan had driven up prices and put additional pressure on a country already stretched by the influx of refugees.
asserted
war → tell → refugees
Prices have gone so much higher due to the complexity of importing goods from Sudan,” he said.
asserted
he → go → Sudan
“Moreover, the influx of refugees [comes] to a country that is really stretched when it comes to helping them.”
asserted
it → come → them
In Renk, Hollingworth saw the effects of drought alongside areas still affected by flooding.
asserted
Hollingworth → see → flooding
“It all comes at the time when the international community has a lot less to give, and we don’t have the same resources we used to have,” he told Al Jazeera.
asserted
he → come → Jazeera
“On the other side, the government of South Sudan has to consider the issue of illegal checkpoints that prevent us from being able to get everywhere.
asserted
that → have → us
We need to reach vulnerable people across the country.”
asserted
We → need → country
Peter Maker, a displaced person in Pigi, said insecurity and the arrival of people displaced from other areas had made it difficult to farm or find work.
asserted
it → displace → work
“We face major challenges due to national insecurity and an influx of people from other areas.
asserted
We → face → areas
Our main issues are insecurity and lack of access to farmland,” he told Al Jazeera.
asserted
he → tell → Jazeera
“Although I am able-bodied and qualified to work, insecurity prevents me from travelling for opportunities or farming safely outside, leaving us heavily reliant on the UN and aid.”
asserted
insecurity → work → UN
Maker said longer-term solutions were needed and warned that further cuts or blockages to assistance would be devastating.
asserted
cuts → say → assistance
He attributed much of the local suffering to political leadership and divisions between communities, while saying people currently survive by sharing resources, relying on God and receiving occasional aid.
asserted
people → attribute → aid
A border under pressure
Renk, in Upper Nile state near the border with Sudan, has become a major entry point for people fleeing the war that erupted there in April 2023.
asserted
that → become → April
More than 1.4 million refugees and returnees have crossed into South Sudan since the war erupted in Sudan in 2023, according to the World Food Programme.
uncertain
war → cross → Programme
Many arrive after journeys marked by checkpoints, extortion and violence, with little idea of what comes next.
asserted
what → arrive → idea
Zainab Musa, a mother of six staying at a transit centre in Renk, recently crossed from Sudan.
asserted
Musa → stay → Sudan
She said conditions were difficult and there was little food.
asserted
conditions → say → ?
“The humanitarian situation is hard and there is nothing to eat, just hunger,” she told Al Jazeera.
asserted
she → be → Jazeera
“I thought of moving from the border at Jodha to the transit centre to look for help.”
asserted
I → think → help
Musa said she planned to travel to her grandfather in Bunj, in Maban county, in Upper Nile.
asserted
she → say → Nile
The transit centres in Renk were not designed for the scale of arrivals they are now receiving.
asserted
they → design → arrivals
Families wait for onward transport to Malakal or other parts of South Sudan, while some remain for months.
asserted
some → wait → months
The WFP has been forced to reduce rations and cut support as funding has dried up.
asserted
funding → force → support
In August, the WFP and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned that more than 650,000 refugees and asylum seekers were at risk of losing food assistance.
asserted
refugees → warn → assistance
They said food and nutrition assistance for the most vulnerable 240,000 refugees was expected to run out in September without additional funding.
asserted
assistance → say → funding
Nura Mohammed Ahmed, a Sudanese refugee, said hunger and a lack of adequate nutrition were already taking a heavy toll at the transit centre.
asserted
hunger → say → centre
Malakal’s fragile refuge
Malakal has hosted families displaced by conflict and disaster for years.
asserted
Malakal → host → years
The former Protection of Civilians site, redesignated as an internally displaced people’s settlement earlier this year, hosts nearly 40,000 displaced people across more than 6,000 households.
asserted
site → redesignate → households
Many have been displaced for years.
asserted
Many → displace → years
But basic services are also coming under pressure.
asserted
services → come → pressure
…and 19 more, not listed.
The Aporia
