Juba – Humanitarian assistance was a lifeline and was an alternative to national authorities.
The full impact of South Sudan’s USAID funding cuts is still emerging, but early signs indicate potential scale.
In April, eight people died of cholera and they tried to find treatment after a US-funded clinic in John Ray state was closed. Transportation centre health care services, which receive people fleeing the war in Sudan, have stopped. And the UN warns that hunger is approaching record levels – an astonishing benchmark in a country that doesn’t know hunger.
However, the response to US funding cuts has been mixed among South Sudan. This is a sign of a complex and often conflicting relationship between basic public services and the economy between the nation and the aid sector.
On social media, many early comments saw this cut as a positive step for the country. The discussion of support came from a variety of angles, including the fact that foreign aid stifled economic development, made people lazy and embezzled before reaching those in need.
However, those who directly praised the end of USAID Online shared more nuanced opinions. Many expressed a sense of proof that was weary of the collapse of the US-controlled system, which they felt they had failed to make long progress in moving forward with the country – even if they acknowledged the difficulties that their absence poses.
For others, including residents of many refugees in the country and refugee camps in neighboring countries, the decision has sparked feelings of anxiety and helplessness.
“No one in this camp would praise Trump’s decision (President Donald),” said William Jal, a community leader at the Bentiu camp, who lives in a state of unity and has been forced out of war and floods. “We are chased from our homes and we have no place to go. If the NGO closes tomorrow, it will be very difficult for us.”
South Sudan – the youngest country in the world and the poorest country in some metrics, the country is also one of the largest per capita recipients of foreign aid around the world. In 2024, more than one in three people received some form of emergency food assistance. Foreign donors fund 80% of the health care system.
Aid also plays an important role in the economy. An estimated 25% of South Sudan’s gross national income comes from foreign aid, and the aid work supports many of the country’s narrow middle class.
Cutt warns experts that South Sudan is on the verge of an all-out war. In recent months, the Ugandan army-backed government has launched a drastic attack on opposition groups, bringing the 2018 peace agreement, which ends the country’s brutal civil war at a breaking point. International observers have warned of the looming explosion of ethnic violence.
It’s more than just a loss of service that is at risk. The cut shows a potential turning point in South Sudan, where aid has long served as a lifeline as well as an alternative to national authorities. Hundreds of programs are now closed – some of them are decades old, and communities are forced to consider unraveling the humanitarian systems woven into the fabric of their citizens, for better or worse.
For many, its decline represents an unknown territory – not only provides almost certain difficulties, but also hopes to break through the widely abominable status quo. To others it is an existential threat.
Support for reduction refers to frustration with the government
The most common reason cited to help cut funding is the belief that foreign aid allowed for bad governance by filling in roles that the state had not provided.
One university student from Ball, a town about 150 kilometres north of Juba, has faced the support for the reduction as a frustration to the government itself. “People have a positive response (to cut aid) because they’re tired of the government, but it’s offering nothing to the citizens. So, the US has decided to cut aid, so it’s going to put pressure on the government,” he said.
Juba residents requested anonymity to speak freely about sensitive topics, but agreed. “By removing aid from the equation, we are forcing the government to invest in our people. The aid, aid work keeps people happy. Now, unemployment puts more pressure on the system.”
Recently, the public’s patience with the growing pains of early South Sudan’s states has diminished.
Last year, the general election scheduled for December 2024 was cancelled, extending the transition period for the fourth time. The economy is also in crisis. In some parts of the country, food prices have skyrocketed 800% since 2023. Many talk about the urgent need for leadership change.
Still, the aid sector receives a share of its responsibility.
Some people felt that the humanitarian system would benefit employees (which earn salaries hundreds of times higher than the national average). Others questioned the value of the vast humanitarian mission as living conditions and security continue to deteriorate.
General framing casts the aid sector and government as mutually strengthening. “There is a perception that the aid sector and the government are working together to keep things as they have done,” a Juba resident said. “Now, some people think they need to burn out the entire system and get back on track.”
I will benefit from the assistance, but I hope for change
However, in most cases, we do not see a decline in foreign aid in black and white terms.
Opio Anthony returned to his hometown of Magwi, eastern province of Exteria in 2021 after living in the Parabec refugee camp in northern Uganda for five years. Despite humanitarian assistance, the situation at the camp was difficult, he said.
“We were always struggling because the food wasn’t enough. I had eight people living with me. Sometimes the food (provided by NGOs) would stay a few weeks until the next distribution,” he recalls. “We continued to struggle that way until we decided to go home and see if there were better options for me and my family.” Now he runs an agricultural cooperative with over 100 people – most former refugees like himself.
Anthony, 53, called for a decision to cut “dramatic” aid, predicting that people would become hungry, sick and die as a result.
He also believes that cuts in funding will encourage people to return from refugee camps, where they can rebuild their lives. “Providing assistance keeps people in camps for a long time,” he said.
Such views reflect the cognitive dissonance experienced by those who benefited from assistance but feel that change is very necessary.
Local aid workers in Juba feared they would lose their jobs due to cuts in funding, but they hoped that the UN and NGOs (the UN and NGOs, whom he said were massive purchasing power inflated prices, would come to shrink their presence.
Sunny Ouda, Torito’s clinical assistant, has three sisters who live in Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya. “It’s complicated,” he said when asked how he felt about Trump’s decision to scale back USAID.
“There are a lot of resources here in South Sudan, but they are not well managed,” he said. “What NGOs are offering, our government can also provide. But only NGOs pay good money. Without them, how can we support our families?
There are no roads or hospitals
For many – perhaps most – South Sudanese, the miserable living conditions and backslide to the war leaves little room for optimism.
Nyakhim Doboul has been living at the Bentiu IDP camp since 2022. They joined over 100,000 people. Many were chased into war several years ago. She highly praised the services offered by the UN and NGOs at the camp, including health care and the unification of children separated from families.
However, the camp situation is the worst in the country. Floods have submerged thousands of kilometres of farmland and pasture, destroying livelihoods. Today, many residents live in water rices, which collect from floods contaminated by nearby oil fields.
Conditions have deteriorated as many services are stopped or reduced, and residents employed by aid organizations have lost their only source of income. Young girls are increasingly married in exchange for desperately needed dowry payments, Doboul said, with nearly 200 people dead since December due to the cholera outbreak.
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When asked about support for reducing aid on social media, Debourg scammed. “I know some people have celebrated what Trump did, but the people here can’t celebrate,” she said. “People say that USAID is promoting lazyness. But that’s not true. It’s not USAID that put us here. It’s the government.”
“What options do you have?” camp leader William Jal said. “Without the floods, the people here could cultivate to survive. If they had safety, they could have returned home. But there were no roads, no hospitals, and the parties failed to implement the peace agreement.”
Nuon Cuy, 29, who lives in a refugee camp in Ethiopia’s Gambella region, agreed that a further decline in aid would place communities displaced by conflict. “When the refugees get home, they’ll be killed, so that’s why they’re in refugee camps. South Sudan is still at war,” he said.
Two days after speaking to the new humanitarian on the phone, the government conducted an air bombardment in Kyi’s hometown of Nasir. Photos of women and children burned alive in the attack are available online. A fresh wave of refugees fled to Gambella. There, US fund cuts threaten to stop food aid.
“These people on social media who support Trump’s decision are primarily in the capital or abroad. They do not represent the population,” said Leben Moro, a professor at Juba University and a board member of the Rift Valley Institute’s think tank.
“People feel that they are not benefiting from foreign aid because international people eat money and it supports the government,” Moro said. “But these cuts ultimately affect them. People will feel different when it comes to hitting them.”
Additional reporting support from Juba-based freelance journalist Okech Francis. Edited by Irwin Roy.
