Washington, DC (October 6, 2014) — A group of leading aid agencies, including World Vision, warned today that parts of South Sudan — already the world’s worse food crisis — could fall into famine early next year if the nine-month long conflict escalates as expected.
The agencies fear that efforts this year to prevent the crisis from deteriorating will falter as rival sides are regrouping ready to resume violence once the rainy seasons ends this month. The number of people facing dangerous levels of hunger is expected to increase by 1 million between January and March next year.
In a report launched today, From Crisis to Catastrophe, the aid agencies called for neighboring governments and the wider international community to redouble diplomatic efforts to put real pressure on the parties to the conflict to end the fighting, including an arms embargo. They said so far the international community’s ‘softly-softly’ approach to the peace talks has failed to secure a meaningful cease-fire.
They also added that there needs to be an increase in both the quantity and quality of the aid effort.
Tariq Reibl, head of Oxfam‘s program in South Sudan, said: “If famine comes to South Sudan it will come through the barrel of a gun. This is a man-made crisis not one caused by the vagaries of the weather and though humanitarian aid is vital it cannot fix a political problem. The international community is much better at saving lives than it is at helping solve the political problems that put lives in peril. Nine months of the softly-softly approach to peace negotiations has failed. If the international community really wants to avert a famine then it has to make bold diplomatic efforts to bring both sides to end the fighting.”
The aid agencies said that a mixture of significant aid, a lull in the fighting due to the wet season and the ability of the South Sudanese to cope with hardship, has managed to stave off a famine for the moment. However they warned that now that the wet season is over, an upsurge in fighting is likely, setting back any gains made in the last few months and potentially pushing areas into famine by March 2015.
Since the current round of conflict began in South Sudan in December 2013, the country has been pushed to the brink of disaster. However the international aid effort has saved thousands of lives, much of it generously funded by the US, the UK and the EU, who have given 60 per cent of the total funding. The UN Mission in South Sudan has opened its compounds to around 100,000 civilians, saving them from ethnic violence, and peace negotiations led by South Sudan’s neighbors have come close to brokering a deal.
Looking back over 2014, Aimee Ansari, head of CARE in South Sudan, said:
“South Sudan only just missed falling into famine this year. Partly this was due to the aid effort but much of it is due to the strength, resilience and generosity of the South Sudanese people themselves.
“But they are now at the end of their tether. You can only sell all your livestock once. Eating seeds meant for planning keeps the gnawing hunger away for the moment, but it is mortgaging the future to meet the desperate needs of the present. The people of South Sudan did what they could to survive this year — but that means they will be vulnerable next year. They need to see an end to the fighting so normal life can resume.”
Many of the 1.4 million people displaced from their homes are facing an uncertain future. The fighting has disrupted markets and pushed up food prices. Fishermen have been barred from rivers, cattle herders have had their cattle stolen, or been forced to sell them off cheaply. The expected upsurge in fighting once the rains have ended in October will tip many over the edge.
The aid agencies called for donor governments to fully support the UN’s appeals for humanitarian work in South Sudan and the refugee crisis in neighboring countries. They also said that the quality of aid needs to be improved. It needs to be delivered where people are rather than where it is easier to reach. And it needs to build on the way people cope with the crisis and to enable them to face any future crisis better prepared.
The aid agencies also called on all the government of South Sudan, the opposition and other armed groups to immediately stop fighting and work toward a long-term, sustainable peace deal. All their forces need to stop attacks against civilians, end the use of child soldiers and allow humanitarian workers safe access to people needing their help.
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The aid agencies are: Oxfam, CARE International, CAFOD, International Rescue Committee, Food for the Hungry, Mines Advisory Group (MAG), Trócaire, Mercy Corps, Caritas Switzerland, Concern Worldwide, Relief International, Tearfund, and World Vision.
For more information, or to get a copy of the report, contact:
Ian Bray Oxfam: +44.7721.461339
Sally Cooper CARE: +211.955.199.374
Faith Kasina Trócaire +211.927.553461
Caroline Savage Mines Advisory Group (MAG) +44.161.236.4311
Amy Fairbairn Mercy Corps +44.(0)131.662.2378 +44.(0).787.640.2811
Marion Schröder, Caritas Switzerland +41 41 419 22 76
Deborah Underdown, Concern Worldwide Paul Donohoe International Rescue Committee +44 (0)20 7692 2739
Summary of the agencies’ work in South Sudan:
Oxfam currently helps over 340,000 people across South Sudan, including giving clean water to over 69,000 people and food to over 90,000 people. It has also helped close to 150,000 South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia and Uganda.
CARE International is providing medical and sanitation support, supplementary feeding for malnourished children, seeds and other relief supplies to more than 200,000 people across South Sudan’s hardest hit states of Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei.
Food for the Hungry is among humanitarian partners responding to the crisis in South Sudan. Food for the Hungry response covers food assistance, emergency seeds distribution, fighting diseases through water supply, hygiene promotion and sanitation, reaching 132,730 individuals in the conflict affected areas.
Mines Advisory Group (MAG): With millions of people living in direct proximity to landmines, cluster bombs and other ‘explosive remnants of war’, 2.2 million of people food insecure, and more than 1.4 million displaced people transiting through areas heavily contaminated. MAG’s mine action intervention in South Sudan remains of vital importance. MAG recently deployed an Emergency Response Team into conflict areas as part of a pilot project to facilitate humanitarian access and enable conflict affected populations to safely return to farming.
Trócaire is directly assisting 29,000 women, men and children affected by conflict, through the provision of food, water and shelter. Trócaire works in partnership with the Caritas network of relief agencies.
Mercy Corps is providing food and livelihood assistance benefiting more than 85,000 people in South Sudan, and water and sanitation services to more than 40,000. The agency is also helping 7,500 children continue their education and feel a sense of normalcy despite the crisis around them.
Caritas Switzerland supported over 35,000 IDPs and host communities with clean water for domestic use, distributed NFIs to approx. 5’400 households and provided seeds and tools to 3,600 households (IDPs and host communities including pastoral communities in Eastern Equatoria State. Besides the provision of emergency support Caritas Switzerland was able to continue its development projects in the education, WASH and food security sector.
Concern Worldwide: When fighting broke out in December, Concern launched an emergency response in displacement camps in Juba and Bentiu and we are now delivering life-saving services to displaced populations such as clean water and sanitation and treatment for malnourished children and distributing food and other essential supplies. In Northern Bahr el Gazal, which has been widely unaffected by the civil war, Concern is also continuing its work to improve food security and access to quality health care and nutrition services.
Relief International is implementing a range of humanitarian activities under Health, Nutrition, Food Security & Livelihood, WASH and Protection in South Sudan; assisting over 110,000 people most in need.
International Rescue Committee provides more than 900,000 people in five states — Central Equatoria, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Unity, Jonglei and Lakes — with vital services including healthcare, child survival, environmental health, nutrition, protection, economic recovery and development, and women’s protection and empowerment. Since the start of the conflict in South Sudan in December 2013, the IRC has ramped up its emergency services throughout the country, adding four new field sites, over 500 additional staff and establishing mobile teams to continue provision of life-saving services.
World Vision is providing food for people trapped in camps and U.N. bases in Upper Nile and Central Equatoria states, working alongside other humanitarian organizations. By early September, World Vision had reached 379,780 people across the country with emergency food provisions, clean water, sanitation services, household and hygiene supplies, and Child-Friendly Spaces — where children can play, study, and receive counseling.
About World Vision:
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization conducting relief, development, and advocacy activities in its work with children, families, and their communities in nearly 100 countries to help them reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender. For more information, please visit www.WorldVision.org/media-center/ or on Twitter @WorldVisionUSA.
Highlights
- Aid agencies warn of famine next year as upsurge in fighting imminent.
- Agencies fear recent improvements will be wiped out as the number of severely hungry people will rise by 1 million in first three months of 2015.