The World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that almost 7.7 million people are facing crisis, emergency or catastrophic famine in South Sudan, in “one of the worst levels of food insecurity” ever recorded in the country.
In a press briefing from Juba, WFP’s country director in South Sudan, Mary-Ellen McGroarty, painted a bleak picture of the situation in the African country, where more than half the population is severely affected by hunger, in a very difficult humanitarian situation exacerbated by violence and conflict, and political and security divisions.
“Conflict and violence are driving people and communities from their homes in some of the most difficult, vulnerable and food insecure areas of South Sudan. And this is happening at a time when we are entering the annual lean season. It is a time of year when hunger is at its peak,” she explained.
“We are at a critical point,” stressed the head of the UN agency, insisting: “This is one of the worst levels of food insecurity we have ever seen in the country.”
A large percentage of families in the conflict zones are unable to secure a meal a day, lamented Mary-Ellen McGroarty, noting that the world is witnessing the devastating impact that the conflict has had on increasing hunger.
The fighting in the greater Upper Nile, for example, has already forced approximately 100,000 people to flee their homes.
As the conflict intensified, WFP had to suspend its operations.
“We have been unable to reach over 213,000 people because of the fighting in six counties,” she said.
Describing the situation on the ground to journalists, McGroarty explained that the worst-affected regions are also the most remote areas of the country, where physical access can be challenging “even at the best of times.”
With the fighting active, WFP has been unable to move along the river.
"These are areas where there are no roads, no cars, no trucks. And when we bring food, we have to bring it by river or by air. When teams and partners go out to work in this area, they stay there for days," she said.
The WFP representative also reported that more than 100 metric tons of food, mainly nutritional products, were looted amid the conflict.
"These are resources that we cannot replace and (...) they were intended for children in a part of the country where more than 17% are malnourished," she noted.
Given these difficulties, the WFP has been forced to "prioritize within priorities" its assistance, in order to reach the most extreme cases, particularly those facing emergency levels and catastrophic levels of food insecurity.
In addition to all this, South Sudan - rich in oil but extremely poor - is also suffering from climate change, whether floods or droughts, and from an outbreak of cholera, which is representing "another deadly threat."
"At this point, South Sudan is not in a position to withstand another war. (...) The people of South Sudan deserve freedom from the prison of conflict and hunger. And they deserve our attention and support," he concluded.
South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, suffered a five-year war that killed around 400,000 people and ended with a peace agreement in 2018, a pact that served to share power between the government and the opposition, but whose main provisions were never implemented.
Instability in the country began to increase with violent clashes on March 4, when a rebel militia, the White Army, seized an army garrison in the city of Nasir, in northern South Sudan, and kidnapped soldiers, including a senior commander, which led to several arrests in Juba against supporters of the opposition led by the South Sudanese vice-president.
The situation on the ground is made worse by the fact that the country is also home to more than a million displaced people from neighboring Sudan, which is experiencing its own war.
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