Since the signing of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) on 12 September 2018, the security situation in South Sudan continued to remain fragile and fluid, and the political environment complex and unpredictable. The general stability allowed humanitarians to operate with minimal interruptions except for a few areas in Central and Western Equatoria, where small scale, low intensity and localized armed conflict continued to occur. Implementation of the R-ARCSS faced challenges with the signatories disagreeing on a few critical issues, mainly in relation to security arrangements, and the number of States and boundaries. The formation of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity of South Sudan was postponed twice over these issues. As of year-end, the new deadline was February 2020.
Ongoing inter- and intra-communal conflict over a diverse range of issues including cattle raids and revenge attacks in certain areas have continued to affect the protection environment for the 1.46 million people that were internally displaced at the end of 2019.
Throughout 2019, there was a steady increase in the number of South Sudanese refugees returning spontaneously. Between November 2017 and December 2019, UNHCR recorded 235,802 spontaneous refugee returns. Of these, nearly 100,000 returned in 2019. The largest numbers of returns were reported from June to August following the political unrest in Sudan. By the end of 2019, 2.2 million South Sudanese refugees resided in one of the six neighbouring countries.
In October 2019, on the occasion of High-Level Segment on Statelessness in Geneva, South Sudan declared five pledges committing to end statelessness by 2024. This included the accession to the two statelessness conventions by the end of 2020. A National Action Plan was drafted, which will serve as a roadmap for the Government and other stakeholders in implementing the five pledges.
Between August and November 2019, devastating floods caused by torrential rains in the highlands of Ethiopia worsened the living conditions of Sudanese refugees and South Sudanese in Upper Nile and Jonglei States. The lives and livelihoods of over 900,000 people, including 200,000 in Maban county, were devastated. Families were forced to relocate to higher ground, homes were destroyed, roads were cut-off and WASH facilities were submerged. UNHCR and its partners scaled-up response activities across the affected locations.
Criminality remained the main threat to humanitarian agencies across the country. In December 2019, a critical incident against an NGO in Maban, adversely affected the operating environment, delivery of protection, and flood-response assistance.