S. Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria gripped by food shortages

March 20, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria state said four of its four counties are experiencing food shortages, affecting hundreds of thousands of people.

State information minister Mark Akio attributed the situation to poor crops yields in 2014 caused by floods and attacks by wild animals.

Lafon in Kapoeta is particularly hard-hit and people are struggling to source food from neighbouring towns, with some even travelling as far as Juba, Akio told Sudan Tribune by phone from Torit on Friday.

It is not known how many people are currently affected by the food shortages.
Reports of food insecurity are not uncommon in Eastern Equatoria state, which has remained relatively calm throughout the country’s more than 15-month-long conflict.

In 2013, humanitarian agencies reported severe hunger in Lafon, Kapoeta North, Kapoeta South and Budi counties.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said last week that millions of people could face food shortages in South Sudan, namely in the restive states of Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity.

The UN’s humanitarian chief in South Sudan Toby Lanzer has urged the country’s rival political leaders to take immediate steps to end the war, saying it was the only way to avert a full-scale humanitarian disaster.

The conflicting has pitted forces loyal to president Salva Kiir against those aligned with former vice-president turned rebel leader Riek Machar.

The violence has displaced almost two million people, with hundreds of thousands fleeing to neighbouring countries.

Efforts by mediators from the regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), have failed to yield a lasting political settlement to the crisis, with talks collapsing earlier this month when the two rival leaders failed to reach an agreement on the contentious issues of governance, reform, power-sharing and status of the armies.

(ST)