UK accused of breaking key aid promise as cuts drive humanitarian crisis in South Sudan

The Renk transit centre in South Sudan shelters hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the conflict - (Herison Philip Osfaldo/Oxfam)

The UK has been accused of breaking a promise to provide significant foreign aid to the Sudanese people blighted by civil war, after support reaching neighbouring South Sudan, which is hosting huge numbers of refugees, was slashed.

When it was announced last February that the UK would cut its aid budget from 0.5 to 0.3 per cent of gross national income, the crisis in Sudan was cited as one of several priority regions, alongside Ukraine and Gaza, that the UK would continue to support.