Obama authorizes $50 million for South Sudan

20 May 2014 11:56 | 719

U.S. President Barack Obama authorized up to an additional $50 million in humanitarian assistance for the people of South Sudan Monday SIA reports.

The announcement follows continued violence in the nascent country between the government and rebel forces. The fighting has displaced upwards of 1.3 million people and dragged the country closer to famine.The additional funds will support the UN High Commission for Refugees and its partners "as they urgently expand assistance to help the more than 300,000 refugees that have crossed into Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda," said Caitlin Hayden, the National Security Council spokesperson, in a statement released Monday.

The money will also be used to provide those displaced within South Sudan with critical household items, protection services and shelter support, according to Hayden "Even as we continue our intensive effort to end the violence, we are working to meet the humanitarian needs of the South Sudanese people" she said.

Hayden added that the today’s announcement will be part of a $300 million pledge of additional funding that a U.S. delegation will formally make tomorrow at a donor conference in Oslo.

That pledge will bring total U.S. humanitarian assistance to $433.6 million since the start of the conflict in December, 2013.

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