Hunger kills 17 people in S. Sudan’s Wau state: official
August 3, 2017 (WAU) – At least 17 people starved to death due to lack of food in South Sudan’s Wau state, an official said on Thursday.
“The humanitarian situation is worsening and our people are starving to death. The violence which forced our people out of Wau town is deteriorating lives unless emergency relief sent to them,” he said.
The commissioner said not only food was lacking, adding that the people too badly needed medical services due to their bad health.
“Our people lack of medicines and clean drinking water, there is an urgent need from the humanitarian agencies to scale up their efforts to help, no fear of insecurity, the area is freely for humanitarian aids workers and any willing Samaritan to do their activities toward rescue to the needy population there,” he said.
The commissioner said civilians had not stored enough food since they left Wau town due to the violence that occurred between 2015 to 2017, while continuous violence in the area allegedly made it hard for government to offer assistance to civilians trapped in war.
“As such, we are calling on the humanitarians aids to intervene with what is necessary and rescue our populations in Bessilia county,” he said.
Famine was officially declared in parts of South Sudan in February 2017, affecting 100,000 people in Unity state. As of June 21, 2017, as a result of massive, intensive humanitarian efforts, famine is no longer officially occurring, although 45,000 people across three counties in Unity state and in Ayod county in Jonglei state are experiencing famine conditions.
A further 1.7 million people in other parts of the country are on the brink of famine, an increase of almost 1 million people since February 2017. Throughout the country, 6 million people are reportedly in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, the highest number of people suffering from acute food shortages and hunger ever recorded in South Sudan.
(ST)