Humanitarian partners in South Sudan have called for the urgent removal of recently imposed taxes and charges.

Over 60,000 people have already been affected after the United Nations was forced to pause life-saving airdrops of food assistance as fuel ran low.

This number will increase to 145,000 by the end of May, should the measures remain in place.

Acknowledging the assurances by many members of the government of South Sudan that humanitarians are exempt, Anita Kiki Gbeho, the humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, urged action by the government on these assurances to prevent humanitarian operations by the United Nations and non-governmental organisations from coming to a standstill.

“We have already had to pause airdrops, which is impacting families in the hardest-to-reach locations within the context of already pared-back humanitarian operations,” said Ms Gbeho in a statement issued Monday by OCHA.

Ms Gbeho added, “We call on the Government of South Sudan to uphold all agreements with humanitarians, including our NGO partners, and immediately remove new taxes and fees so that we can continue to support people in need.”

Since February, the South Sudan government has imposed a series of new taxes and charges at border crossings and in the country.

Although the government assured that the taxes would be removed, there has been no written commitment to date.

These measures would add $339,000 monthly to the cost of food assistance and the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) operations.

This is enough to feed over 16,300 people for a month.

“It is vital that our limited funds are spent on saving lives and not bureaucratic impediments,” Ms Gbeho said.