Famine declared in part of South Sudan’s Unity state
February 20, 2017
More than 100,000 people in two counties of Unity state are starving, UN and government officials say.
Famine has been declared in two counties of South Sudan, according to an announcement by the South Sudan government and three UN agencies, which says the calamity is the result of prolonged civil war and an entrenched economic crisis that has devastated the war-torn East African nation.
The official classification of famine highlights the human suffering caused by South Sudan’s three-year civil war and even as it is declared President Salva Kiir’s government is blocking food aid to some areas, according to UN officials.
More than 100,000 people in two counties of Unity state are experiencing famine and there are fears it will spread as an additional one million South Sudanese are on the brink of starvation, said the announcement.
“The concern is not just about the 100,000 civilians that are facing famine at the moment,” said Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Juba. “There are about one million more people that are on the brink of famine.
“Also, one out of every three households in South Sudan is currently facing food insecurity.”
“Our worst fears have been realised,” said Serge Tissot, head of the Food and Agriculture Organization in South Sudan.
He said the war has disrupted the otherwise fertile country, causing civilians to rely on “whatever plants they can find and fish they can catch”.
‘Man-made famine’
Roughly 5.5 million people, or about 50 percent of South Sudan’s population, are expected to be severely food insecure and at risk of death in the coming months, said the report.
It added that nearly three-quarters of all households in the country suffer from inadequate food.
If food aid does not reach children urgently “many of them will die,” said Jeremy Hopkins, head of the UN children’s agency in South Sudan.
Over 250,000 children are severely malnourished Hopkins said, meaning they are at risk of death.
It is not the first time South Sudan has experienced starvation. When it fought for independence from Sudan in 1998, the territory suffered from a famine spurred by civil war.
