- South Sudan is facing the “worst food crisis since independence from Sudan in 2011”.
- Save the Children urged the international community not to “ignore South Sudan or divert funds to other crises”.
- The charity says the local currency has depreciated by more than 40 percent this year.
Save the Children, a British charity reported on Friday that nearly 1.4 million children under the age of five in South Sudan are malnourished due to widespread flooding and sectarian strife.
It said the world’s youngest country, with a majority rural population, “is facing its worst food crisis since independence from Sudan in 2011.”
“The situation has worsened in recent months and more than 615,000 people have been affected by widespread flooding for the fourth consecutive year, destroying homes and crops,” Save the Children said in a statement. I said.
According to the report, children and women are disproportionately affected by malaria and snakebites.
Thousands of people have been driven from their homes by floods and a vicious cycle of often deadly inter-ethnic warfare, according to the organization, which urged the international community not to “ignore South Sudan or divert funds to other crises.” Turn to.”
On Tuesday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that some 909,000 people have been affected by the floods in nine states.
Like many nations in sub-Saharan Africa, South Sudan has suffered from the war in Ukraine, which has driven up global food and gasoline prices.
Save the Children says the local currency has depreciated by more than 40 percent this year.
In March, the UN’s World Food Program warned that more than 70 percent of South Sudan’s 11 million people could face severe famine this year due to natural disasters and fighting.
Save the Children urged leaders who plan to attend November’s COP27 climate summit in Egypt to support financing to help vulnerable communities and children build resilience against climate-related disasters and shocks. should be increased.
“South Sudan’s first generation of children are now growing up, and we must not fail them by allowing South Sudan to become a forgotten crisis,” said Country Director Jeb Rabeltosapuran.
South Sudan, although possessing substantial oil reserves, is one of the poorest states in the world and has spent more than half of its existence at war.