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People In South Sudan Are Dying And No One Is Talking About Them

On Monday, famine was declared in several parts of South Sudan  by the South Sudanese government and humanitarian agencies. The country has been severely annihilated by three years of war (Source). The United Nations and other international welfare agencies have condemned the government for blocking and restricting aid delivery in East Africa.

Albert Gonzalez Farran/Albert Gonzalez Farran, UNICEF

There are three conditions that affirm the declaration of a famine:

  • 20% of households face extreme food shortages
  • Over 30% of the population are acutely malnourished
  • Every day, hunger causes two out of every 10,000 people to die

The U.N. has confirmed several deaths by starvation in north-central South Sudan and hence a formal famine declaration was issued on Monday. Extreme shortages, caused by the long-running civil war and resultant economic instability, have reduced the Unity Province, Leer, Mayendit and Koch counties to drastic levels of food insecurity and starvation.

According to official reports, 100,000 people are facing starvation and a further 1 million are estimated to be on the threshold of famine. In the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) update released today by the government, 4.9 million people are estimated to be severely food insecure between February to April 2017.

“A rattling 42% of the population in South Sudan is in urgent need for food and nutrition assistance.”

Human Rights Watch researcher Jonathan Pedneault wrote this famine is a man-made result of “conflict, warring parties blocking access for aid workers and large-scale human rights violations.”(Source.)

South Sudan, which split from Sudan in 2011 to become the world’s newest country has been amidst conflict for the last 50 years. Post-independence, dissension between President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar who formerly were allies in the struggle to achieve freedom, has further wrecked South Sudan.In 2015, Kiir and Machar signed a peace agreement and after a short standoff, they launched a transitional unity government in late April which violently fell apart few months later. During a meeting between the two men at the presidential palace, gunfire erupted outside, and the country has been in active conflict since (Source.)

Goran Tomasevic, Reuters

South Sudan has been on the brink of famine twice in the past three years. This time, however, aid agencies are unable to access the affected areas. The distressed population has been cutoff by war and has been denied humanitarian access. Tens of thousands have already lost their lives in war and the increasing inflation rate in South Sudan has only worsened the rampant food insecurity.

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