E. Equatorial state minister refutes hunger death reports
August 27, 2015 (TORIT) – A minister in South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria state has dismissed reports that dozens of people in the region died from hunger in recent weeks.
“The dead of the three people is not much related to hunger, they are actually related to various diseases and this of cause they cannot be put on issue of hunger,” he said.
“Even the secretary general of food security at the national level mentioned that it was not true when the commissioners mentioned about the death cases”, added Laku.
The minister urged local authorities to make sure they established exact causes of one’s death instead of making general assumptions and attributing all death cases to hunger.
Laku also dismissed as false reports of hunger in Budi county of Eastern Equatoria state.
A local official in Budi had put the numbers of people said to have died from hunger at 10, but the minister said even the national secretary general of good security disputed it.
Although Laku acknowledged the food insecurity situation in the state, he calmed nerves by revealing that up to100,000 metric tons of food was needed save people from hunger.
He said Kapoeta East county was the most affected. Also badly hit by the current food crisis catastrophe in Lafon/Lopa county in the eastern part of the state capital, Torit.
Meanwhile, the lkwotos county commissioner, Peter Lokeng observed that no help had been extended to affected people ever since he reported cases of hunger, a month ago.
Hunger, he said, has forced several people to flee the county into Uganda and Kenya.
(ST)