Summary of Needs
The Abyei Administrative Area remains disputed between Sudan and South Sudan. It is facing humanitarian challenges driven by intercommunal violence, climate shocks, and chronic poverty. Persistent tensions over land rights and internal ethnic rifts have fueled armed youth groups, the proliferation of firearms and ammunition, and criminal activity. State and non-state armed actors, including the South Sudanese People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) in the south, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the north and local vigilante ethnic groups, continue to restrict humanitarian access.
Humanitarian needs in Abyei stem from violence, floods, disease, economic deterioration, and lack of basic services. The latest Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) report released in November 2025 indicates that over 88,000 people (55 per cent of the population) in Abyei were in IPC Phase 3 and above between September and November 2025. This figure is expected to increase to over 96,000 people (60 per cent of the population) during the lean season in April-July 2026. Meanwhile, the nutrition situation in Abyei is expected to deteriorate further from IPC acute malnutrition phase 4 (critical) to IPC acute malnutrition phase 5 (emergency) during the lean season of April-July 2026 with a current Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) prevalence of 28.1 per cent. This is also consistent with the expected worsening of Abyei’s acute food insecurity situation, classified in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) during the lean season period. Disease outbreaks are increasing people’s hardship as conflict restricts their access to health care and other services. In 2025, 3,200 cases of cholera were recorded in Abyei, including 19 reported fatalities.
Conditions are particularly acute for certain population groups. Since Sudan’s conflict began, Abyei has received nearly 46,000 South Sudanese returnees, refugees, asylum-seekers, and third-country nationals. There are also about 55,000 IDPs in Abyei, and access to basic services is a struggle for the residents, IDPs, returnees and refugees. Due to funding constraints, more humanitarian agencies are phasing out or reducing their operations in Abyei, which could make the situation worse.
Response Strategy
Priorities include delivering timely, multisectoral life-saving aid; improving humanitarian access; and linking humanitarian, development, and peace efforts. The response follows a “whole of Abyei” approach, leveraging partners in Sudan and South Sudan to balance assistance in the north and south. Collaboration with development and peacebuilding actors is key to resilience, implemented through an Area Based Coordination (ABC) mechanism. Due to access constraints, northern Abyei remains underserved despite high demand for humanitarian assistance. Enabling activities involve negotiating access, partnering with UNISFA, managing information for advocacy, prioritizing cash assistance where feasible, and engaging communities to align response with their priorities.