Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 20:58:16 +0200
Briefing: South Sudan heads towards famine
BENTIU, 31 July 2014 (IRIN) - More than a third of South Sudan’s population
is at risk of severe food insecurity as a result of the ongoing conflict,
and the international community, NGOs and local organizations are sounding
the alarm over an impending famine.
Since December when the country’s feuding leaders, President Salva Kiir
Mayardit and former Vice-President Reik Machar, began a protracted and
deadly civil war, millions have been uprooted and their homes and
livelihoods destroyed.
The UN Security Council on 25 July described the food security situation in
South Sudan as “the worst in the world”.
IRIN unpicks some of the issues surrounding possible famine.
How bad is it?
Of South Sudan’s roughly 11 million people, 3.9 million are (or were)
projected to be in emergency or crisis levels of food insecurity between
June and August 2014, according to a 29 July World Food Programme (WFP)
<http://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/south-sudan-situation-report-37-29-
july-2014> Situation Report.
The UN Security Council on 25 July
<http://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/security-council-press-statement-hu
manitarian-situation-south-sudan-25-july-2014> described the food insecurity
situation as “catastrophic” and said “it may soon reach the threshold of
famine.”
Leaders from the UN, the USA, the European Union as well as regional leaders
across Africa have called for greater humanitarian assistance and a rapid
end to the conflict in order to avert famine.
The worst affected parts of the country are the three conflict-hit states,
Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei.
Nearly one million children aged below five will require acute malnutrition
treatment in 2014, according to WFP and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
which <http://www.unicef.org/media/media_74581.html> estimate that 50,000
children could die from acute malnutrition.
“The world should not wait for a famine to be announced while children here
are dying each and every day,” said UNICEF director Anthony Lake,
<http://www.unicef.org/media/media_74581.html> speaking after a visit to
South Sudan.
Only half of the 3.8 million people needing some form of humanitarian
assistance have been reached, according to the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
What’s impeding aid access?
Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei states have been particularly hard to access
due to fighting and the rainy season, which has made many roads impassable.
According to the
<http://logcluster.org/map/south-sudan-access-constraints-map-25-july-2014>
South Sudan WFP logistics cluster, as of 25 July, nearly all major roads to
Unity, Upper Nile, and Jonglei states remained closed to traffic, and most
other areas are passable only for light vehicles.
Ongoing hostilities have significantly impeded humanitarian access. OCHA
reported in its 17 July Situation Report that in Rubkona County, Unity
State, the rapid response team delivering food assistance was “disrupted by
insecurity” and could only reach 8,000 of the 37,000 people it was targeting
in that area.
Poor roads and conflict have meant that agencies have had to increasingly
rely on costly airlifts, but these too have been made difficult by poor
infrastructure. “Due to the deteriorating conditions of airstrips, most
locations are only reachable by helicopter which can carry a maximum of two
tons per rotation. This impacts the amount of humanitarian supplies that can
be delivered on a daily basis and current helicopter requirements are
insufficient with the increasing demands,” noted a 25 July
<http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/WFP%20situation%20
report%20%2336%2C%2021%20July%202014.pdf> WFP Logistics Cluster Update.
Bentiu airstrip in Unity state is still shut pending renovations, and it is
unclear when it will become operational again. The airstrip in Rumbek is
also damaged and can only handle helicopters at the moment, and Malakal
airport was closed on 26 July.
The violence has also forced many families to abandon their fields and
livestock during the planting season, which starts in March and lasts until
June. A Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) Seasonal Monitor
reported that there has been reduced planting in the conflict-affected
states.
Therefore, many are reliant on humanitarian aid in order to survive. But
ensuring the safe passage of food and critical supplies is an uphill task,
and aid is often looted as towns and villages frequently change hands.
“Recently, 4,600 metric tonnes were looted, which is enough to feed a
population of 275,000 per month [not “for a month”],” said Joyce Luma, WFP
South Sudan country director.
Why hasn’t famine been declared yet?
The Integrated Food Security Phase Categorization (IPC) scale
<http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-detail-forms/ipcinfo-resource-detail0/en/c/1
78965/> defines a famine (phase 5) as “the absolute inaccessibility of food
to an entire population or sub-group of a population”. For a famine to be
declared a number of conditions must be met, including a death rate of
greater than 2 per 10,000 people per day, a general acute malnutrition rate
of greater than 30 percent and an almost complete lack of food for more than
20 percent.
“We do have 1,700 cases of severe malnutrition in Leer [Unity State], and
1,000 in Bentiu [Unity State], but for famine to be declared, it has to
affect over 20 percent of the population,” Sue Lautze, head of the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) in South Sudan, told IRIN.
IPC also categorizes acute (phase 3) and emergency levels (phase 4) of food
insecurity. For an acute crisis, at least 20 percent of people must have
significant food shortages and there must be above normal acute levels of
malnutrition. For emergency levels, there must be high levels of acute
malnutrition and at least 20 percent of people must have extreme food
shortages.
As it stands, more than 3.5 million people are in IPC Phase 3, and “large
portions of the population in conflict-affected areas face Emergency (IPC
Phase 4),” according to
<http://www.fews.net/%C3%A1frica-del-este/food-security-outlook/sun-2014-05-
25-tue-2014-09-30> FEWS NET. Within the next four months, famine could occur
in parts of Jonglei and Unity States.
What about children?
Children are usually the most vulnerable in situations of famine or
emergency food insecurity. UNICEF has reported that 50,000 children are at
risk of dying of malnutrition throughout 2014, and hospitals, internally
displaced persons (IDPs), shelters and communities are already reporting
high numbers of sick children.
In Bentiu’s UN Protection of Civilians (POC) site, aid agencies warn that
malnutrition-induced child mortality is reaching alarming levels, with up to
four children dying per day from starvation and related complications.
Vanessa Cramond, health adviser for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF),
explained that children often contract multiple other infections alongside
malnutrition, as a result of cramped and poor conditions in IDP camps.
“Repeated infections often result in children developing malnutrition … Very
often children are presenting to us very late, very sick and we do see very
high levels of mortality in the first few days,” she told IRIN in Bentiu.
For example, two-year-old Thielyang was admitted to the MSF hospital in
Bentiu with severe malnutrition in addition to tuberculosis. “It took weeks
for her to regain her weight, but now she is doing better,” mother Angelina
told IRIN.
Why is South Sudan inherently vulnerable to food insecurity?
South Sudan suffers from a
<http://www.ss.undp.org/content/dam/southsudan/library/Reports/southsudanoth
erdocuments/Investing%20in%20Agriculture%20for%20Food%20Security%20and%20Eco
nomic%20Transformation%20-%20November%202012.pdf> chronic agricultural
production deficit. Over 90 percent of South Sudan’s land is arable, but
less 4 percent of that is farmed today. Most farmers are subsistence
growers, and when they flee conflict, little is produced.
According to a FAO/WFP
<http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/ena/wfp263188.pdf
> 2014 Crop and Food Security Assessment, subsistence farmers continue to
rely largely on the market for their cereal requirements. Notable
differences exist even within the 10 states of South Sudan, with households
in Upper Nile State covering only 10-20 percent of their cereal needs from
their own production, compared to 60-70 percent in Central Equatoria State.
The high costs of transport and poorly integrated markets also increase the
cost of bringing in food to South Sudan. Most agricultural produce is
imported from Uganda, and even in times of peace, there is a high reliance
on transport through South Sudan’s river network.
But with towns like Bor, Malakal and Bentiu frequently changing hands
between rebels and government forces, traders have been unwilling to take
the risk of transporting goods north from the capital, Juba.
“We keep looking at the markets, we keep asking our teams what’s coming down
the river, but there is nothing,” Sue Lautze, head of FAO in South Sudan and
deputy humanitarian coordinator, told IRIN.
The current conflict will likely have long-term impacts on development aid,
and foreign direct investment. Many agricultural development programmes have
been put on hold due to insecurity and the need to channel resources to
emergency response, and foreign investors have returned to their home
countries.
Lautze explained that because of access difficulties to conflict-affected
areas, aid agencies may be tempted to channel funding for development
projects to more stable and often more prosperous countries. “You keep
development going in the less affected states, while depriving the
conflict-affected states globally. That is what happened during the 21-year
conflict with Sudan,” she said.
<http://www.irinnews.org/Photo/Details/201406250833380904/The-threat-of-fami
ne-weighs-heavily-on-South-Sudan>
http://www.irinnews.org/photo/Download.aspx?Source=Report&Year=2014&ImageID=
201406250833380904&Width=490
Photo: <http://www.irinnews.org/photo/> Stephen Graham/IRIN
The threat of famine weighs heavily on South Sudan
(image/jpeg attachment: image001.jpg)