UNHCR appeals for 99 mln USD for South Sudan, CAR

GENEVA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday appealed for 99 million U.S. dollars to address the humanitarian crises gripping South Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR).

"The 99 million U.S. dollars comprises 59 million for the South Sudan situation and 40.2 million for the CAR crisis, both for the period till end March," Adrian Edwards, UNHCR spokesman told a press conference.
He added that the appeal came after the two African countries' situation continued to worsen.

In South Sudan, fighting has spread to seven of the country's ten states. Statistics showed that over 232,000
civilians are displaced, and the number of South Sudanese fleeing to neighboring countries exceeded 43,000.

UNHCR estimated that refugee numbers could rise to 125,000 and the number of people displaced internally could reach 400,000.

Meanwhile, the precarious situation in CAR drove 958,000 civilians to leave their homes and as many as 86,400
refugees fled to neighboring countries.

UNHCR is concerned about the safety of refugees and displaced civilians with increasing insecurity and violence causing much difficulty in reaching vulnerable groups.
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