South Sudan’s Jonglay state has been on the brink of war for the past months and more than 280 000 South Sudanese people had to flee the state between December 2025 and this first week in February according to the UN. At the same time there has been a rise in cholera cases: In Jonglei state, 125 cases of cholera were reported in January, and 479 cases countrywide. According to the International Rescue Committee, 10 million people, 84% of the country’s population, urgently need humanitarian support. Projections show that nearly half of South Sudan’s counties will face emergency levels of food insecurity, at which point death by starvation is a daily risk.
In November 2024, UNHRA reported on their website that South Sudan hosted over 500,000 refugees and asylum-seekers – primarily from Sudan – and nearly 2 million internally displaced people, and that was before the most recent attacks that left more than 200 000 people displaced.
“We have just gotten out of a bad outbreak of cholera, the worst that South Sudan has seen, with over 97,000 cases overall. Treatment centers are overwhelmed and critically short of supplies. An emergency response in Jonglei is currently underway,” said Anita Kiki Gbeho, the United Nation Mission in South Sudan chief, in a statement on 30 January.
Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) said in an article on Al Jazeera that one of its hospitals in South Sudan was struck by a government air attack on 4 February, the tenth assault on an MSF-run medical facility in the country in the past year. The attack destroyed the hospital’s main warehouse, resulting in the loss of most critical medical supplies. In a separate incident, MSF reported that its health facility in Pieri, also in Jonglei state, was looted on Tuesday, 3 February, by unidentified attackers, leaving it unusable for the local population. MSF noted that it is the sole healthcare provider for around 250,000 people in Lankien and Pieri, warning that continued attacks on its facilities mean these communities are being left without access to healthcare.
Noala Skinner, UNICEF Representative to the Republic of South Sudan, said on the organisation’s Instagram page that UNICEF has recorded the closure of 17 health facilities across the country due to conflict with associated nutrition services suspended. They have responded by dispatching water purification equipment, buckets, and soap to Duk county in Jonglei. Supplies have also been dispatched to Akobo in Jonglei state, including malaria treatment, therapeutic food for malnourished children and emergency health kits. “We are extremely concerned for women and children impacted by these violent clashes. We know that these areas have some of the highest levels of child malnutrition, and we know that a malnourished child without treatment is 12 times more likely to die.” UNICEF urgently called for all parties to cease the violence and grant rapid, unimpeded, safe access for humanitarian aid and workers to reach highly vulnerable, displaced groups.
This severe humanitarian situation is happening amidst and as a result of the renewed clashes in the Jonglay state between the government and fighters loyal to the Sudan People’s Liberation ArmyinOpposition (SPLAIO) that are occurring at a scale not seen since 2017 before the end of the war. “The ongoing security operation in Northern Jonglei State is a lawful and necessary measure aimed at halting the advance of rebel forces, restoring public order, and safeguarding civilians,” information minister and government spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny said in a statement. According to the government this is not war and the peace agreement still stands.
Sudan is a majority Christian country on paper. Joshua Project puts the figure at 63% of the 12 million population and there is religious freedom. The country has, however, been beset by civil war, poverty, high levels of corruption and natural disasters like flooding. After the country’s independence from Sudan in 2011, the peace was short-lived as a civil war broke out two years later and more than 400 000 people were killed. The 2018 peace agreement brought hope to the nation, but it was soon clear that clashes between followers of President Salva Kiir, a Dinka (the largest ethnic group) and the now deposed First Vice President Riek Machar, and his Nuer followers were far from over, resulting in tremendous turmoil and instability. (See INcontext article of last year for more information https://incontextinternational.org/2025/04/09/pray-as-south-sudan-teeters-on-brink-of-civil-war)
In September 2025, the South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC), representing ten Christian denominations, offered to act as a neutral voice to unite citizens, press leaders to take action, and guide reconciliation and healing. Their statement called for forgiveness, amnesty, reduced external interference, and stronger regional and international support, with Rev. Tut Kony Nyang stressing that full implementation of the peace agreement of 2018 (the Revitalized Agreement) is the most credible path to lasting peace. The RECONCILE Peace Institute was also created by the churches in 2003 with the mission to support the people of the country in addressing conflict and trauma. Rev. Shelvis Smith-Mather, missionary and Principal of the RECONCILE Peace Institute, shared some stories of people who benefited from the work of this Institute during a Missions Conference of the Reformed Churches of America. (https://www.faithward.org/how-the-church-is-bridging-communities-and-building-peace-in-south-sudan/)
We as Christians know that the only real solution lies in the overpowering love of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to pray that people in South Sudan will be touched by both and that change will come. South Sudanese leaders often remark, “I was born in war, raised in war, married in war, bore children in war, but I don’t want to die in war.” May we as the global Church stand with these brothers and sisters in Christ for real and lasting peace.
Please join us in prayer for the people of South Sudan:
- Pray for the two leaders of South Sudan to encounter Jesus Christ and that their hearts will be turned to peace and not to war.
- Pray for food, water and medicine to reach those who are in dire need.
3. Pray for the humanitarian organisations such as Doctors Without Borders whose facilities have been attacked, to be safe, to be able to get new supplies and to be able to help the people in need.
4. Pray for the Christians in the country and the Sudanese Church, many who have known war all their lives, not lose hope, to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit, and to be able to draw others to Jesus.
Resources:
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/south-sudan-opposition-forces-call-for-march-juba-after-battlefield-gains-2026-01-19/
UNICEF: https://www.instagram.com/p/DUToYOFlnYe/
https://www.oikoumene.org/news/as-renewed-fighting-triggers-fears-of-full-blown-war-south-sudan-churches-flag-threats-to-stabilizing-peace-pact
https://apnews.com/article/south-sudan-hospital-airstrike-95c194445e6fd6fbcd948b1acb55e106
