NAN-F-32
Famine
Juba, Feb. 21, 2017 (dpa/NAN) South Sudanese President Salva Kiir on Tuesday pledged to give humanitarian agencies unimpeded access to crisis areas after a famine was declared in parts of the country.
Kiir made the pledge to parliament after the UN complained that the army had prevented it from accessing displaced people in the north.
He said that the government was also taking its own steps to help people whose food was insecure.
Kiir pledged to increase food supplies and to subsidise their prices in affected areas.
The UN had said on Monday that the famine affected about 100,000 people in northern Unity State.
An additional 1 million are on the brink of famine in several parts of the country, where farming has been hampered and food prices soared.
This started since a military conflict erupted between Kiir and his former deputy, Riek Machar, in December 2013.
“We in the government will ensure that humanitarians and development organisations have unimpeded access to needy populations across the country,” Kiir said.
The UN mission to South Sudan said that soldiers had prevented peacekeepers from carrying out a foot patrol to Wau Shilluk to check on the situation of about 20,000 people who had fled fighting.
“The peacekeepers wanted to check if the displaced people needed assistance,’’ UN mission Head David Shearer said.
Throughout the conflict, aid workers have complained of bureaucratic obstacles at checkpoints where government or rebel troops demand payments from aid convoys, looting of compounds, and even rape and killings of humanitarian workers. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Sadiya Hamza