Thousands receive food rations in southern Unity state: ICRC

December 22, 2015 (KAMPALA) – Nearly 47,000 people received food rations in southern Unity state in a humanitarian response conducted by the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in Thonyor and Leer towns last week, a spokesperson for the agency said.

Yamila Castro told Sudan Tribune that the humanitarian situation on the ground was volatile, forcing vulnerable groups to flee their homes in search for safer locations.

“Insecurity in southern counties remains at high risk, which threatens many people and exposes [them] to critical situation,” said Castro over phone.

For the last one week, however, calms has returned to areas where few aid workers have been to handle the volatile situation. Recently, the situation has reportedly calmed down allowing some humanitarian organizations, including ICRC, to provide assistance to people.

“One of our main challenges to work in the area insecurity, we need our teams on the ground to be able to carry humanitarian activities safely. We are continuously discussing with all sides of the conflict to obtain security guarantees,” said the ICRC spokesperson.

She said ICRC does not have a base in Leer town as the compound has been raided several times.

“We have lost the storage capacity, which limits the amount of assistance that we can store for distribution,” she said, adding “Logistics remain a big challenge, making it difficult to set up stores due to fear of unstable security in some places”.

Many people are reportedly trying to get back home after witnessing return of international NGO’s to the area to get services. It is not yet clear whether those in the bushes may return soon, despite conditions they are facing in there.

But there fears of continuous of attacks in some parts of southern Unity state.

According to Castro, another important ICRC activity in South Sudan is the “restoration of family links” which allows people who have been separated by the conflict to reconnect and stay in touch, through different means, including phone calls.

“Our main concern is the people who live in the area as the humanitarian needs are huge, not only in terms of access to food but also to health care, water and protection. We are continuously talking to both sides of the conflict hope to be able to go back as soon as the conditions allow,” said Castro.

“We hope to return in the coming weeks for another round of food distribution and later
have a more permanent presence and deployment of activities and the reunification of families separated by the conflict”, she added.

(ST)