01, March 2017 (Nyamilepedia) — Hunger stricken government soldiers and civilians have stormed into a Save the Children warehouse in South Sudan’s Jonglei state and looted everything inside the site as famine starts to bite across the war ravaged country.
Save the Children country director Mr Peter Walsh condemned in strongest term the looting by armed men in uniform and civilians from the local communities.
“To be honest this is the most extreme act by the very people we are trying to help, to rob more than 1500 malnourished children of the much needed assistance we have been providing in our feeding centres.” Peter Walsh told media
He said the food that has been looted was meant to be distributed to women and children extremely suffering from malnutrition, but now it will be difficult to help the malnourish children as all the food items have been looted.
The country director noted that some of the looted food items were meant for sick children.
“.…even the nutrition supplies that are for very sick children were looted, this is totally unacceptable” he added
The incident took place at the Save the Children’s warehouse in the area of Waat in Jonglei State.
Mr Walsh called on the local authorities to immediately investigate the incident and make sure all looted food items are returned to Save the Children’s warehouse.
On going civil war and atrocities have displaced thousands of South Sudanese civilians and send many into displaced camps run by the UN and other aid agencies.
“We strongly urge the local authority in the area to investigate the incident and ensure that all supplies are returned” Mr. Walsh further stressed
The Save the Children country’s director said the only way out was to stop the current civil war.
He urge the warring parties to cease hostilities and give unimpeded access for humanitarian aid delivery.
“As we battle to counter the spread of famine declared last week, it is critical that parties to the conflict provide unimpeded humanitarian access to the affected community to avoid famine becoming their death sentence.” Walsh said
Jonglei state is one of the regions that has been hit hard by famine including the area of Waat where the Save the Children’s warehouse have been looted.
South Sudan government and UN declared famine in South Sudan last week, warning that thousands could die from starvation if humanitarian aid was not quickly delivered to South Sudanese civilians.
