A high-level humanitarian delegation led by Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Albino Akol Atak has visited Malakal to assess humanitarian needs and discuss access constraints with Upper Nile State authorities, affected communities and aid partners.
The delegation included Relief and Rehabilitation Commission Chairperson Stephen Kueth Gach and the acting country director of the World Food Programme.
Call to reopen the Sobat Corridor
During the visit, Akol called for the reopening of the Sobat Corridor and for the removal of illegal taxes and roadblocks that can obstruct humanitarian movement.
For Upper Nile, access routes are not only logistical questions. When roads and waterways are blocked, delayed or made more expensive by unofficial charges, the effects can reach displaced people, host communities, health facilities and markets.
Funding pressures are becoming part of the access crisis
The delegation also raised concerns about declining donor funding.
WFP Acting Country Director Adham Effendi warned that reduced funding could significantly affect assistance to refugees from September.
That means the humanitarian challenge in Upper Nile is increasingly shaped by two pressures at once: whether aid can physically reach communities and whether agencies have enough resources to sustain the response.
Two constraints, one humanitarian system
Access constraints can delay or block delivery through roadblocks, taxes, insecurity and closed corridors.
Funding constraints can reduce the quantity, frequency or geographic reach of assistance even when routes are open.
State and national authorities face implementation questions
Upper Nile Governor James Koang Chuol reaffirmed his government’s commitment to improving humanitarian access, while Parliament’s Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Committee Chairperson Peter Lomude Francis said lawmakers would advocate for a larger government contribution to humanitarian response.
The immediate test is whether those commitments produce measurable changes: fewer roadblocks, lower unofficial charges, safer corridors and clearer public reporting on what the government itself is financing.
Why the Sobat Corridor matters
The Sobat system provides a critical route toward communities in eastern Upper Nile, including areas where road infrastructure is limited and humanitarian needs are high.
Reopening and protecting the corridor could improve movement of food, medical supplies and humanitarian personnel while also supporting ordinary commercial traffic.
What South Sudan Press is seeking to verify
- Which sections of the Sobat Corridor are currently blocked or restricted.
- Which taxes or roadblocks authorities classify as illegal.
- Whether orders have been issued for their removal.
- What level of humanitarian assistance could be reduced from September.
- How much additional government funding has been committed to the response.
- Whether access conditions improve after the delegation visit.