WUNRN
SOUTH SUDAN - HUMANITARIAN CRISIS -
SERIOUS DISPLACEMENT - ALARMING FOOD INSECURITY - WOMEN & CHILDREN
SOUTH SUDAN - RAINY SEASON WORSEND
CRISIS - WOMEN & CHILDREN
At one UN site alone,
approximately 4 children below the age of 5 are dying each day.
|
SOUTH SUDAN - UN WARNING OF MAJOR
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS |
Karin Zeitvogel -July 17, 2014
The United Nations'
top humanitarian official, Valerie Amos, said this weekthe international
community must intervene quickly in South Sudan, or watch theyoung country sink
even deeper into disaster and possible famine.
"If we don't take
urgent action now, we will see a major humanitarian crisisunfolding in South Sudan
with respect to food insecurity and the possibility offamine," Amos said
after briefing the U.N. Security Council on the deterioratingsituations in both
South Sudan and Sudan.
Amos said ongoing
fighting and the breakdown of the peace process for SouthSudan is putting
hundreds of thousands of lives at risk.
“My fear is that,
because of the conflict - because the agreement that wasreached between the two
parties, that agreement is being broken every day andthe fighting continuing -
that we will see a very quick deterioration of thefood security situation with
the potential for a famine being declared verysoon," Amos said.
My fear is that because of the conflict,
becausethe agreement that was reached between the two parties... is being
broken everyday and the fighting continuing, we will see a very quick
deterioration of thefood security situation with the potential for a famine
being declared verysoon.
Valerie Amos, UN Humanitarian Chief
She warned that famine
is also a strong possibility in parts of SouthKordofan, in Sudan. The United
Nations and others in the international communitysay bombing raids carried out
in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states by thegovernment in Khartoum have forced
large numbers of Sudanese from their homesand have interrupted farming.
"We have already
heard that the famine early warning system network hasforecast that the
emergency levels of food insecurity are likely to persistamong the internally
displaced and host communities in SPLM-North controlledareas of South Kordofan
between now and September," Amos said.
"I warned the Council that if
aerialbombardment continues to disrupt agricultural activities, we can expect
theimpact to extend well beyond the harvest in September," shesaid.
Amos called on the
Security Council and "anyone with any kind of politicalinfluence" to
bring pressure to stop the violence on the warring parties inSouth Sudan and
Sudan. She also called for U.N. humanitarian operations in thetwo Sudans to be
scaled up significantly.
The U.N. says 1.5
million people have been displaced and around four millionface alarming food
insecurity as a result of seven months of fighting in SouthSudan. It also says
that tens of thousands have been displaced by violence inSouth Kordofan, which
is one of Sudan’s biggest production areas for sorghum, astaple food.