Summary of Needs
The Abyei Administrative Area remains a disputed territory between Sudan and South Sudan. It faces humanitarian challenges rooted in episodic inter-communal violence, climate shocks, and chronic poverty. In addition to the perennial tensions between the Misseriya and the Dinka ethnic groups over land rights, an internal rift among the Dinka pits Dinka Ngok against the Dinka Twic tribes. Since February 2022, armed youth militia groups have emerged on both sides and criminal activities are on the rise. Both state and non-state armed actors pose an access constraint to humanitarian operations.
Since the outbreak of the conflict in Sudan in April 2023, Abyei has received nearly 25,000 people displaced from Sudan. They include South Sudanese returnees, refugees/asylum seekers, and third-country nationals. The population in the north of Abyei area has increased by about 20,000 people. The trading hub of Amiet Market has expanded, and its population has risen to nearly 40,000 people. Since 2022, inter-communal violence in the south has increased the concentration of IDPs in central Abyei (to more than 30,000 people). The Agok area has been depopulated, while Abyei town is surrounded by a large IDP settlement. In 2024, insecurity in Sudan impeded the seasonal reverse migration of herders from Abyei towards the north. This led to a settlement-like prolonged stay of about 1,400 households (about 9,800 people) of Misseriya cattle herders in Abyei.
Humanitarian needs in Abyei are the consequences of violence, impacts of natural disasters (especially heavy rains and floods), disease outbreaks, food insecurity due to loss of livelihoods, poverty, and lack of access to essential services. More than 200,000 people are currently in IPC 4. Economic hardship, high inflation rates in Sudan and South Sudan, and the inability of the local authorities to provide basic social services exacerbate the situation. In 2025, an estimated 300,000 people will require humanitarian assistance in Abyei. They include residents, IDPs, returnees and refugees from Sudan. Overall, the humanitarian response will target 250,000 people. Due to operational constraints, vulnerable people in the northern part of Abyei have not received consistent life-saving assistance since the outbreak of the Sudan conflict.
Response Strategy
The humanitarian response will focus on:
- Strengthening emergency preparedness across all sectors.
- Providing timely multi-sectoral life-saving assistance to crisis-affected and the most vulnerable people.
- Improvement in humanitarian access; complementarities between the humanitarian response, development and peace efforts; and
- Innovative approaches in determining the priorities and context-specific solutions to the needs of communities.
The humanitarian response in Abyei is driven by a ‘whole of Abyei’ approach, drawing on the collaboration of partners based in both Sudan and South Sudan . They will leverage their comparative advantages to balance assistance in both the north and the south of Abyei. Close collaboration with development partners and peacebuilding partners is essential to creating the conditions of community resilience.
Targeting and Prioritization
In Abyei, 24 humanitarian organizations are involved in the response, including 7 UN agencies, 5 INGOs, and 12 national NGOs. Due to operational and access constraints, people in the northern part have not received consistent life-saving assistance despite an intense community demand for an inclusive humanitarian response.
Core preparedness and response activities will focus on conducting timely needs assessments to expedite humanitarian assistance, strengthening early warning systems and risk analysis capabilities, developing contingency plans, linking humanitarian assistance with resilience-building efforts, and optimizing the humanitarian response to maximize impact with limited resources. Additionally, enabling activities will encompass ongoing negotiations for humanitarian access, fostering strategic partnership and collaboration with the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), managing information to bolster advocacy efforts in Abyei, prioritization of cash as a modality for humanitarian assistance where feasible, and engaging with communities to ensure that the response aligns with the priorities of those affected.