UNICEF chief calls for end to South Sudan conflict

January 20, 2018 (JUBA) – Only an end to the ongoing hostilities in South Sudan can bring back hope and safety to the nation’s children and young people, a top United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) official has said.

“I have just spent two days in South Sudan where I saw first-hand how four years of a man-made conflict have left children sick, hungry and on the brink of death,” UNICEF’s executive director, Henrietta H. Fore said Thursday after a two-day visit to the country.

A quarter of a million children in war-torn South Sudan are severely malnourished and at imminent risk of death, according to UNICEF.

The impact of the relentless violence, Fore said, has been devastating.

“UNICEF and other aid agencies are working on the ground in some of the most dangerous conditions to provide children and young people with their basic needs. This is no small feat,” she stressed, describing South Sudan as “the most dangerous place in the world for humanitarians” as 28 aid workers were killed last year alone.
The conflict in South Sudan, now in its fifth year, had killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than two million since it broke out in December 2013.

Fore said the fighting shows no sign of abating and the humanitarian needs are massive as 2.4 million children have been forced to flee their homes.

“The numbers go on and on. Together they equal an entire generation of young people denied the opportunities they so desperately need to contribute to building their society,” she said.

There are also widespread concerns that as dry season approaches in South Sudan, the needs and threats will only continue to grow.

“Only an end to hostilities can bring back hope and safety to the children and young people of South Sudan. Until then, we need unconditional, sustainable access from parties to the conflict and more resources from donors,” said the UNICEF executive director.

“Without these, the lives and futures of millions of children in South Sudan will continue to hang in the balance,” she further stressed.

According to UNICEF, Over 19,000 children have been recruited into the conflict while at least one in three schools has been damaged, destroyed, occupied or closed. Over 1,200 cases of sexual violence against children have reportedly been documented.

(ST)