Global News Post: South Sudan

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 8pt;">Photo: <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/photo/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">Hannah McNeish/IRIN</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 8pt;">Short supply: Conflict in Jonglei state has<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 8pt;">had a drastic effect on food security</span></div></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; text-align: justify;">JUBA (IRIN) - An already dire food situation in South Sudan could deteriorate amid growing economic problems, food shortages and a mass influx of people fleeing </span><st1:place style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; text-align: justify;" w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Sudan</st1:country-region></st1:place><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; text-align: justify;"> in the next two months, agencies warn.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said that in <st1:place w:st="on">South Sudan</st1:place>’s first year of statehood, half the population of about nine million people could face hunger.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Their Crop and Food Security Assessment report shows that for 2012, 4.7 million people will be food-insecure, up 1.4 million from last year, and the number of severely food-insecure will hit almost one million from 900,000 in 2011.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">South Sudan</span></st1:place><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> will only produce about half the food it needs, with a cereal deficit of 470,000MT due to erratic rains and internal conflict displacing many away from fields.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Last month, a huge wave of ethnic violence in <st1:place w:st="on">South Sudan</st1:place>’s largest state, Jonglei, affected more than 140,000 people and until peace talks are organized, the situation remains precarious. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In addition to a poor harvest, huge waves of returnees from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sudan</st1:place></st1:country-region> or refugees fleeing violence across the border have compounded food shortages.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“If conflict continues to cause major population displacements and food prices keep rising, the report estimates that the number of people who are severely food-insecure could double,” a joint FAO-WFP statement warned.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"This is a rapidly approaching crisis that the world cannot afford to ignore," said Chris Nikoi, WFP's country director in <st1:place w:st="on">South Sudan</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">South Sudan</span></st1:place><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">’s Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Joseph Lual Achuil, urged people to try to salvage what they could from the planting season before the rains come or 1.7 million people would be “severely affected by starvation”.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“If we don’t do our best in order to rescue the situation now, 4.7 million will be without food, and if they are without food before the rain, after the rain what is going to happen? We are going to have a disaster,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><b>Time and money running out</b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Food prices have skyrocketed since major trading partner <st1:country-region w:st="on">Sudan</st1:country-region> closed its border months before <st1:place w:st="on">South Sudan</st1:place> gained independence, with food from neighbouring countries hit by rising fuel prices, transportation costs and illegal taxation. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">George Mabany, an aid worker in Bentiu, state capital of the oil-rich Unity state near <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sudan</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s border, said prices had tripled since May, when Sudanese troops occupied the contested region of Abyei and the borders closed. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Mabany said 1kg of grain had doubled in price to 100 pounds (US$28) as all food was now being trucked up from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Uganda</st1:place></st1:country-region>. The price of 50kg of sugar had tripled to 85 pounds ($24), he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Items such as eggs and onions were no longer available and while the market had a small amount of fruits and vegetables, nobody could afford them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 8pt;">Photo: <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/photo/" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">Hannah McNeish/IRIN</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 8pt;">Every grain counts: An aid worker<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 8pt;">collects food spilt from food aid sacks<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Depreciation of the South Sudanese pound has also caused a hike in prices. Dependent on oil for 98 percent of its revenues, South Sudan’s decision in late January to halt oil production in a bitter row with <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sudan</st1:place></st1:country-region> over transit fees could spark rampant inflation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">WFP only has about a third of the $250m needed to reach a planned 2.7m people this year, and only has a few months until the rains start to bring in enough food before large parts of the country are inaccessible by truck.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Come May, the logistics capacity of moving large stocks around doesn’t exist any more because of the rains and the poor logistics of the country,” said Ramiro Lopes da Silva, deputy director of WFP. “At the moment, we don’t have enough money even for what we have planned already.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"The situation is dire, and we are doing everything we can to be ready, but we are running out of time," Nikoi said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><b>Fleeing starvation</b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Up to 500,000 people in two of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Sudan</st1:country-region>’s war-torn <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">border states</st1:place></st1:state> could flee southwards when the rains come and there is nothing left from last year’s poor harvest.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Conflict broke out in South Kordofan in June when government forces clashed with those formerly loyal to South Sudan, and spread to neighbouring <st1:place w:st="on">Blue  Nile</st1:place> in September.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Sudan President Omar al-Bashir has refused to allow aid agencies into conflict areas, and frequent aerial bombardment and violence have forced more than 417,000 people to flee their homes and fields, according to the UN.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Some 80,000 people have already crossed into <st1:place w:st="on">South Sudan</st1:place>, many suffering from malnutrition, malaria and pneumonia after months of hiding in the bush and scavenging food.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Princeton Lyman, <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> envoy to the two <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sudans</st1:place></st1:country-region>, has warned of an imminent famine if there is no intervention.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“What you have now is a sense of urgency. In a couple of months we are in what is typically the hunger season, both in Sudan and South Sudan, and obviously the impact on those populations is potentially very serious,” Da Silva said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Rights group Amnesty International said that even six months ago, people scattered in the bush were surviving on dwindling food supplies and wild fruits.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Civilians continue to live in precarious conditions with insufficient food, shelter or access to healthcare and in fear of being bombed. It is essential for the civilian population from these two areas to receive impartial humanitarian assistance,” AI’s UN ambassador Renzo Pomi said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“There is a sense of urgency that the window for an effective intervention with the populations where they are is narrowing,” said Da Silva on negotiations with the North.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">WFP has also been stopped from accessing stocks in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Sudan</st1:country-region> to bring south of the border, so it is trucking food all the way from the Kenyan <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">port</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Mombasa</st1:placename></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><b>Fears of mass deportations</b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Aid agencies are also extremely concerned about the fate of up to 700,000 southerners still thought to be living in the north, who face a deadline to get legal or get out by 8 April.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">As relations sour between the two nations, there are fears that hundreds of thousands of people could descend on the impoverished south within months.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But provisions for how southerners can legalize themselves have yet to be made, while <st1:city w:st="on">Khartoum</st1:city> has closed the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">port</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Kosti</st1:placename></st1:place> where barges packed with thousands of people leave for the South.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">South Sudan</span></st1:place><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> says trains have also been prevented from leaving, while the other options of flying and trucking people through dangerous territory filled with mines are unworkable for the numbers and time limit.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The UN has appealed for $763m for <st1:place w:st="on">South Sudan</st1:place> in 2012, but says more will likely be needed with the expectation of more crises, while aid agencies are already struggling with the current caseload.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"Of course we're not ready for any kind of major movement from the north to south, considering what we're dealing with in <st1:place w:st="on">South Sudan</st1:place> already - capacity is already extremely stretched," UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, said recently.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"I think that everyone needs to recognize that if we do have to face those challenges in the next two to three months, our resources will be extremely stretched," she added.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

SOUTH SUDAN: Worsening food crisis

Photo: Hannah McNeish/IRIN Short supply: Conflict in Jonglei state has had a drastic effect on food security JUBA (IRIN) - An already ...

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk8ZeLGWHjCD2xDLSx7VOm4AZ4sdejJ0vZkySrYD6hUZ6PCDjRg-B-Iit0lPZtT4CCsqGZnsw6UslOuRlNB8xPpA6RB75AeDJRcFkqYULfFRGZDDycchxrm88mGCfaW85HAdlcmCi59jA/s1600/south-sudan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk8ZeLGWHjCD2xDLSx7VOm4AZ4sdejJ0vZkySrYD6hUZ6PCDjRg-B-Iit0lPZtT4CCsqGZnsw6UslOuRlNB8xPpA6RB75AeDJRcFkqYULfFRGZDDycchxrm88mGCfaW85HAdlcmCi59jA/s320/south-sudan.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 9.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 1.2pt; text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 6.5pt;">National flag (center) of South Sudan flies at United Nations Headquarters on Thursday following the country's admission as the 193rd Member State<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The General Assembly today admitted the Republic of South Sudan as the 193rd member of the United Nations, welcoming the newly independent country to the community of nations.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">South Sudan’s independence from the rest of Sudan is the result of the January 2011 referendum held under the terms of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the decades-long civil war between the North and the South.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“At this moment… in this place… the world gathers to say in one voice: Welcome, South Sudan. Welcome to the community of nations,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said after the Assembly adopted a resolution, by acclamation, to admit Africa’s newest country.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Mr. Ban, who was among the UN dignitaries who attended the independence ceremony in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, last Saturday, pledged the world body’s assistance as the country shapes its future. “The commitment of all Member States will be essential as South Sudan moves forward,” he stated.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> “Together, let us say to the citizens of our newest Member State: You now sit with us. We stand with you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Assembly President Joseph Deiss said today marks a “historic” moment for Africa and for the world community.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Today we are firmly entrenching South Sudan in the community of nations in the same way as other Member States with the same rights and responsibilities. The universality of the United Nations and the values that are enshrined in its Charter are thereby enhanced,” he stated.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I am confident that South Sudan will contribute to promote the objectives of security, peace, prosperity, friendship and cooperation between peoples as they are promoted by the United Nations, and this for the good of the people of South Sudan, for the good of the region and for the entire African continent.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Speaking on behalf of South Sudan, Vice President Riek Machar said he was “honoured and humbled” to stand before Member States to convey the gratitude of his Government and people to the Assembly for admitting the new nation to membership in the UN.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">He paid tribute to all those who participated in the long struggle for South Sudan’s liberation. “That struggle cost our people millions of lives and untold suffering. Their sacrifices will not be forgotten.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Mr. Machar also pledged that his country will work to foster peace in its region, while building a strong and viable nation at home.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“When we started our journey we could hardly imagine that the road would lead us to this point, however much we may have hoped for it. Now, we must move forward together to fulfil our people’s aspirations.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As South Sudan’s flag was hoisted at UN Headquarters, Mr. Ban pledged that the world body will work with the country to realize all the hopes and dreams the flag represents. “Like your flag, let us rise. Let us rise, together, to the challenge.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The latest country to join the world body had until now been Montenegro, which became the 192nd UN Member State on 28 June 2006, just weeks after it gained its independence from Serbia. (UN News)<o:p></o:p></span></div>

UN welcomes South Sudan as 193rdMember State

National flag (center) of South Sudan flies at United Nations Headquarters on Thursday following the country's admission as the 193rd Me...