Civilians in South Sudan risk starvation after food blockage: report

August 1, 2015 (MALAKAL) – Thousands of civilians in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state could face starvation after the government blocked humanitarian organisations from using the Nile River to deliver relief food, aid agencies told Associated Press on Friday.

The Nile is the main form of transporting food aid to the oil-rich region, but presently a frontline in Upper Nile between opposition forces and government troops.

The directive, sources say, came from the South Sudanese army (SPLA), Paul Malong Awan. However, the SPLA spokesperson, Col. Phillip Aguer told AP the river transport was “temporarily put on hold” for security purposes because the river was being used by rebels to attack army bases there.

Tapiwa Gomo, a spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs was quoted saying 30,000 to 35,000 displaced civilians in the west bank village of Wau Shilluk face a “worrying” situation.

The Wau Shilluk clinic has enrolled 77 children with severe acute malnutrition, but therapeutic food for them has run out since resupply teams haven’t reached the settlement for a month, Shinjiro Murata, the head of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said.

“If we cannot provide anything, then in one week, two weeks, depending on the condition of the children, some of them might die,” Gomo told AP.

He added “There are likely more children unaccounted for with severe malnutrition”.

In Malakal, the Upper Nile capital, another 30,000 people are reportedly sheltering at a UN base will run out of food if barges are not allowed to travel from the South Sudan capital.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly two million displaced since violence broke out in South Sudan in December 2015 when forces loyal to President Salva Kiir clashed with those allied to the country’s former vice-president, Riek Machar.

An estimated 4.6 million people, aid agencies say, could face hunger if fighting rages on.

(ST).