UN agencies warn 7 mln people in S. Sudan at risk of rising hunger

JUBA, Feb. 26 — Three UN agencies on Monday warned that 7 million
people in South Sudan are at risk of rising hunger in the coming months
unless assistance and access are maintained.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) and the World Food Program (WFP) also warned that progress made to
prevent people from dying of hunger could be undone. “If this happens,
this will be the highest ever number of food insecure people in South
Sudan. The period of greatest risk will be the lean season, between May and
July,” the UN agencies warned in a joint statement issued in Juba.
According to an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report
released on Monday, some 5.3 million people were already struggling in
January to find enough food each day and were in “crisis” or “emergency”
levels of food insecurity.
This represents a 40 percent increase in the number of severely food
insecure people compared to January 2017.

According to the agencies, some 155,000 people, including 29,000 children,
who could suffer from the most extreme levels of hunger, are particularly
at risk. Serge Tissot, FAO Representative in South Sudan, warned that the
food security situation is extremely fragile, adding that another famine is
imminent. “The projections are stark. If we ignore them, we will be faced
with a growing tragedy. If farmers receive support to resume their
livelihoods, we will see a rapid improvement in the country’s food security
situation due to increased local production,” Tissot said. The report
comes one year after famine was declared in parts of South Sudan in
February 2017 but improved access and a massive humanitarian response
succeeded in containing and averting famine later last year.

Despite this, said the UN agencies, the food insecurity outlook has never
been so dire as it is now. “The situation is deteriorating with each year
of conflict as more people lose the little they had. We are alarmed as the
lean season when the harvest runs out is expected to start this year much
earlier than usual,” said Adnan Khan, WFP Representative and Country
Director. “Unless we can pre-position assistance rather than mount a more
costly response during the rains, more families will struggle to survive,”
Khan warned. The report says overall hunger levels have risen due to
protracted conflict that led to reduced food production and constantly
disrupted livelihoods. This, the report says, was further exacerbated by
economic collapse, which impacted markets and trade, making them unable to
compensate for the decrease in local food production. “Prolonged dry
spells, flooding and continued pest infestation, such as Fall Armyworm,
have also had a damaging impact,” it says.

In areas like Unity, Jonglei, Upper Nile, and Central Equatoria, riddled by
reoccurring outbreaks of violent conflict and displacement, the proportion
of people suffering from extreme food insecurity ranges from 52 to 62
percent — more than half the states’ combined population. The number is
expected to keep increasing unless people find the means to receive,
produce or buy their own food. The report says conflict and worsening
hunger have led to already soaring rates of malnutrition. Without
assistance, as of May, more than 1.3 million children under five will be at
risk of acute malnutrition. Mahimbo Mdoe, UNICEF’s Representative in
South Sudan said they are preparing for rates of severe malnutrition among
children never before seen in this country. “Without an urgent response
and access to those most in need, many children will die. We cannot allow
that to happen,” Mdoe added. – XINHUA