October 18th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – Nearly half of South Sudan’s twelve (12) million population is on the brink of starvation according to a warning by the British aid organization, Save the Children, in a report released on Wednesday and seen by the Nyamilepedia.
South Sudan is in a brutal civil war which started in December 2013 between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon over political differences within the ruling SPLM party.
Thousands of people have been killed and almost two millions have been displaced to the neighboring country while millions have also been displaced internally with some living under the protection of the civilians sites manned by UNMISS, the UN mission in the country.
In a report released on Wednesday, the British aid group’s country director in South Sudan Deidre Keogh warned that as result of the continuation of the ongoing civil war, almost one-third of the country’s population is under threat of starvation.
“Nearly half of South Sudan’s population is facing extreme hunger, the country’s highest proportion of food insecure people in the last 10 years,” she said in the report obtained by the Nyamilepedia.
The report said one million among the six million people who are in dire need of food assistance in South Sudan are children saying famine in anticipated in four South Sudanese states.
“More than six million people currently need urgent food assistance, including more than one million children. Near-famine conditions are predicted in four of South Sudan’s states, a rapid and worrying increase from 2017, in which famine was only declared in one state,” the report further warned.
The report further identified the states of Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity as well as Western Bahr Al-Ghazal as the states badly affected by the conflict and are threatened with famine as results.
“Areas of continuing conflict—including Jonglei, Upper Nile, Western Bahr El Ghazal, and Unity—show the highest levels of food insecurity,” the report further said.
