NAN-F-9
Famine
Johannesburg, Feb. 20, 2017 (dpa/NAN) tThree UN agencies said on Monday declared famine in parts of South Sudan.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the UN children’s fund UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP) said no fewer than 100,000 people are facing starvation in parts of violence-plagued South Sudan.
“Famine is currently affecting parts of Unity State in the northern-central part of the country.
“A formal famine declaration means people have already started dying of hunger,” the three agencies said.
UNICEF said that more than one million children are estimated to be acutely malnourished across South Sudan, including more than 250,000 who are severely malnourished.
The UN agencies said that tree years of conflict have undermined crop production across the country.
The agencies also said that soaring inflation, up to 800 per cent year-on-year, and market failure have hit areas that traditionally rely on markets to meet food needs.
“`Famine has become a tragic reality in parts of South Sudan and our worst fears have been realized.
“Many families have exhausted every means they have to survive,” said Serge Tissot from FAO in South Sudan.
Joyce Luma from WFP stressed that the famine was “man-made.”
“[We] have … warned that there is only so much that humanitarian assistance can achieve in the absence of meaningful peace and security,” she was quoted by the statement as saying.
Peace talks between the government and the rebels, as well as the formation of a unity government in April 2016, did not stop the fighting.
The agencies described the situation as the worst hunger catastrophe since the beginning of the conflict.
“If sustained and adequate assistance is delivered urgently, the hunger situation can be improved in the coming months and further suffering mitigated,” they added.
The agencies said an additional one million are on the brink of famine in several parts of the country, where farming has been hampered since a military conflict erupted between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy, Riek Machar, in December 2013.
Tens of thousands have been killed and 3.4 million displaced, including more than 1.5 million who fled abroad.
Also, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) update released by the government, a total of 4.9 million people, more than 40 per cent of South Sudan’s population are currently in need of urgent food and agriculture assistance.
IPC also that the number of food insecure people are expected to rise to 5.5 million at the height of the lean season in July. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Sadiya Hamza