South Sudan crossborder population movement dynamics

Since the beginning of conflict in 2013, millions of South Sudanese have been displaced, including to neighbouring countries. As of April 2019, 2.3 million South Sudanese people were registered as refugees or seeking asylum outside of their country. South Sudanese have mainly settled in Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR). While the majority of those displaced remain in refugee camps, there is limited understanding of cross border dynamics in South Sudan. Detailed information on the scale and nature of return patterns is lacking.

To support prioritisation of humanitarian assistance and protection services to returnings households (HHs), REACH is collecting data on cross border trends using its Area of Knowledge (AoK) methodology, which remotely monitors needs and access to basic services across South Sudan on a monthly basis through multi-sector interviews with Key Informants (KIs), and Port and Road Monitoring (PRM) methodology, which monitors several key cross border transit points in South Sudan (Kapoeta, Renk and Akobo). PRM allows to provide up-to-date information on the demographics and vulnerabilities of HHs that are leaving and entering key transit locations and identify the scale of movement trends in a hard-to-reach settlement. Rapid assessments (RA) focusing on cross border movements were also conducted in Mathiang and Torit.

This brief provides an analysis of AoK and PRM data relating to cross border movement collected between May 2018 and April 2019 and incorporates qualitative data collected over the same period, as well as a secondary data review.