South Sudan at risk of famine

(Vatican Radio) An estimated 7 million South Sudanese fleeing violence in their country are at risk of famine this year.

Despite the signing of a Cessation of Hostilities agreement on the 23rd of January 2014, violent clashes between the SPLA and opposition forces loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar have continued unabated in many states.

The South Sudan Council of Churches sent a delegation to the second phase of peace talks in Addis Ababa in February, where they called for further humanitarian aid and civilian protection, and the need for an inclusive dialogue process to address the deeply rooted issues at the heart of the conflict.

Meanwhile, as Christian Aid’s Adrian Ouvry told Vatican Radio’s Linda Bordoni, humanitarian workers are struggling in a battle against time to access remote areas of the country where people are most in need before the rainy season arrives in late March or early April…

Listen to the interview…

Ouvry explains that the signing in January of the peace agreement has unfortunately had very little impact on the fighting at ground level. Since then the ongoing violence “especially in Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei States which has led to further displacement” he said.

Ouvry notes that peace talks are due to resume, but in the meantime the humanitarian situation calls for immediate action as refugees have topped some 1 million people, “the worrying thing is not just about the current needs, but about the risk of a forthcoming famine because right now is when the planting season should be in full swing”.

He says the rains will be coming soon and “if planting hasn’t yet taken place the rains will cause floods that make some areas inaccessible, and by the time it is harvest time in November and December, there will be no crops and that means a potential high risk of famine” he said.

Ouvry says there are from 700,000 to 800,00 internally displaced people in South Sudan at the moment, plus over 200,000 others who have gone across the borders into Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan.

Many of the displaced people are vulnerable women, children and elderly people. Insecurity – he points out – is a major problem for aid workers who in many cases are not able to reach those in need because not all of them are grouped in camps. The majority – he says – “is dispersed over a wide area and is deliberately trying to keep a low profile to avoid being detected by armed groups from opposite ethnicities”.

Ouvry says the resumption of peace talks due to start on March 20 does offer a glimmer of hope, but – he says - the most appropriate thing to do at the moment “is to support agencies that are working in the country, because there are a lot of un-funded appeals by agencies including Christian Aid and other Church partners who are doing the best they can”. So “donating money to agencies that are working in South Sudan would be the best way of trying to help them do their best to meet the humanitarian needs of displaced people in the country” he said.