U.N. warns of South Sudan famine as donors pledge more aid
Tue May 20, 2014 8:16pm GMT
* More than $600 mln raised at donor conference in Oslo
* Fighting reported Monday night - U.N. official
* South Sudanese president warns of famine
* Planting season, herding, trading disrupted by conflict (Adds comment from
USAID official)
By Gwladys Fouche
OSLO, May 20 (Reuters) - More than a third of South Sudan's population, or 4
million people, will be on the brink of starvation by the end of 2014 as
fighting rages in the world's newest country, U.N. officials said on
Tuesday.
"We are losing time. Farmers should be planting their crops right now,"
United Nations' aid chief Valerie Amos told a donors' conference in Oslo.
"If they don't, and if livestock herders are not able to migrate to grazing
areas, people will run out of food."
Clashes between rebels and government forces have wrecked food markets and
forced people to abandon livestock and land.
The U.N. has estimated that $1.8 billion in aid is needed for South Sudan,
more than the $1.3 billion previously estimated. Donors including the United
States, Britain and Norway have agreed to give more than $600 million on top
of $536 million already pledged.
USAID Assistant Administrator Nancy Lindborg urged South Sudan's leaders to
make sure aid reaches people in need. "All the money in the world is not
going to make a difference if we can't reach people," she said.
Violence erupted in the oil-producing country in December after a long power
struggle between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar.
Kiir told the BBC in an interview first broadcast on Monday that "the
civilian population is going to face one of the worst famines that has ever
been witnessed in South Sudan" and appealed to Machar for an end to the
conflict.
"We have to stop this fighting so that we save the people's lives," Kiir
said, adding that aid must reach civilians.
Thousands have died in the violence, often pitting Kiir's Dinka people
against Machar's Nuer.
The two men, under regional and Western pressure, signed a ceasefire
agreement earlier this month. Like the first deal in January, it quickly
broke down, and World Food Programme's assistant executive director
Elisabeth Rasmusson told Reuters she had reports of clashes in Malakal on
Monday night.
Malakal is capital of one of South Sudan's main oil producing regions.
"We think that by the end of the year, 1.5 million will be internally
displaced, 850,000 will be refugees and 4 million on the edge of
starvation," Toby Lanzer, the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator in South
Sudan, said on the conference sidelines.
South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011. Fighting has curbed oil
production, which is crucial for its economy.
It has also disrupted planting of sorghum, maize and groundnuts and forced
herders to abandon their animals or lead them to areas where grazing is
poor.
"All this puts tremendous pressure on livelihoods," said Lanzer. "The
biggest message I am getting from South Sudanese is 'give me one month of
peace so I can plant and I could look after my livestock'," he said.
Ethiopian, Kenyan and Ugandan traders responsible for a large amount of
trade in markets have also fled, he said. (Additional reporting by Edmund
Blair in Nairobi and Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Editing by Alison
Williams, Toni Reinhold)