Sudan refugees stranded as IOM suspends transport

Displaced Sudanese sit at a shelter after they were evacuated by the Sudanese army to a safer area in Omdurman, on May 13, 2025, amid the ongoing war in Sudan. [AFP]

The United Nations migration agency warned Friday that critical funding shortfalls have forced it to "temporarily suspend" a vital transport link in South Sudan, stranding people fleeing the war in neighbouring Sudan.

South Sudan has been plagued by conflict and poverty since its independence in 2011, heightened in recent months by the roiling war in Sudan on its porous northern border.

In Sudan, the conflict between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that began in April 2023 has recently intensified in the west and south.

On Friday, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned that funding cuts meant its transport operations for people fleeing south into South Sudan were "drastically reduced and temporarily suspended on 1 June 2025".

It said in a statement that it had established an emergency service consisting of one bus and one truck between the Joda border -- the main crossing between the two countries -- and the town of Renk.

However, the IOM told AFP it could only run the service until the end of June, appealing for $6.5 million to plug the funding shortfall.

"The people arriving in South Sudan have already endured unimaginable trauma -– conflict, displacement and profound loss," said IOM Director General Amy Pope.

She said it was "unconscionable" that many had now been "left stranded at the border without the means to reach safety or rebuild their lives".

"We cannot allow financial constraints to determine whether people live with dignity or languish in desperation," she said.

The IOM said the suspension would also strain the host communities, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks and exacerbating tensions over already scarce resources including water, medical care, land, and livelihoods.

It comes only days after the IOM said that more than 16,000 people had been displaced in a week by violence in Sudan.

The uptick in fighting -- both in Sudan and South Sudan -- comes after US President Donald Trump's decision to heavily slash foreign aid, causing havoc in the humanitarian sector.