Juba, South Sudan
September 23,2021— Mathew Hollingworth, a humanitarian coordinator in the Republic of South Sudan, has condemned in the strongest terms possible the recent attack on humanitarian convoy in Yei County of Central Equoria State.
A driver, who was a South Sudan national, was killed when a convoy of a WFP partner organization was attacked on September 17th in Mugwo Payam of Yei County.
In a statement seen by Nyamilepedia, the convoy was carrying at least 121 metric tons of food supplies for host communities in Morobo County.
According to the statement, one person sustained injured, two others were found safe and three others went missing as result of the incident.
Mr. Hollingworth appeals to the authorities and communities to provide security for humanitarian workers while carrying out humanitarian duties across the country.
The Republic of South Sudan has not been a safe haven for humanitarian workers since the country gained independent in 2011.
The security situation worsen after 2013 conflict which has given everyone a reason to carry arms to defend themselves; however, with devastating food insecurity and lack of other basic needs in the country, the number of crimes especially attacks on convoys have increased over the last 5 years.
The roads ambushes in South Sudan especially in Greater Equatoria region have become more rampant and the government has since then been reluctant to address such issue. Requests by truck drivers to get Ugandan army to secure the highways between Nimule and Juba were also turned.
According to the revitalized peace agreement, Chapter Two, the towns including capital city Juba should have been demilitarized in order to mitigate insecurity in and around the outskirts of Juba; however, Kiir’s admin has downplayed almost every clause on security arrangement in attempt to maintain status quo.
