Latest news with #UpperNileState
Zawya
22-07-2025
- General
- Zawya
Food lifeline fading for millions in South Sudan hit by conflict and climate shocks
South Sudan's dramatic hunger crisis is worsening and millions of people there could miss out on food aid because of the worsening global humanitarian funding crisis, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday. Earlier this month, the UN agency began airdropping emergency food assistance in Upper Nile State after surging conflict forced families from their homes and pushed communities to the brink of famine. Nationwide, the picture is just as alarming, with half the country's population – more than 7.7 million people - officially classified as food insecure by UN partner the IPC platform. This includes more than 83,000 face 'catastrophic' levels of food insecurity. 'The scale of suffering here does not make headlines but millions of mothers, fathers, and children are spending each day fighting hunger to survive,' said WFP Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau, following a visit to South Sudan last week. The worst-hit areas include Upper Nile State, where fighting has displaced thousands and relief access is restricted. Two counties are at risk of tipping into famine: Nasir and Ulang. South Sudan, the world's youngest country, gained independence in 2011. This gave way to a brutal and devastating civil war which ended in 2018 thanks to a peace agreement between political rivals which has largely held. However, recent political tensions and increased violent attacks - especially in the Upper Nile State - threaten to unravel the peace agreement and return the nation to conflict. The humanitarian emergency crisis has been exacerbated by the war in neighbouring Sudan. Since April 2023, nearly 1.2 million people have crossed the border into South Sudan, many of them hungry, traumatised, and without support. WFP says that 2.3 million children across the country are now at risk of malnutrition. Crucial, yet fragile gains Despite these challenges, the UN agency has delivered emergency food aid to more than two million people this year. In Uror County, Jonglei State, where access has been consistent, all known pockets of catastrophic hunger have been eliminated. Additionally, 10 counties where conflict has eased have seen improved harvests and better food security, as people were able to return to their land. To reach those in the hardest-hit and most remote areas, WFP has carried out airdrops delivering 430 metric tons of food to 40,000 people in Greater Upper Nile. River convoys have resumed as the most efficient way to transport aid in a country with limited infrastructure. These included a 16 July shipment of 1,380 metric tons of food and relief supplies. WFP's humanitarian air service also continues flights to seven Upper Nile destinations. At the same time, a cholera outbreak in Upper Nile has placed additional pressure on the humanitarian response. Since March, WFP's logistics cluster has airlifted 109 metric tons of cholera-related supplies to affected areas in Upper Nile and Unity states. However, the UN agency says it can currently support only 2.5 million people - and often with just half-rations. Without an urgent injection of $274 million, deeper cuts to aid will begin as soon as September. 'WFP has the tools and capacity to deliver,' said Mr. Skau. 'But without funding - and without peace - our hands are tied.' Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN News.
Washington Post
18-06-2025
- Washington Post
Firms led by US military veterans deliver aid in Africa and Gaza, alarming humanitarian groups
ON A PLANE OVER UPPER NILE STATE, South Sudan — Swooping low over the banks of a Nile River tributary, an aid flight run by retired American military officers released a stream of food-stuffed sacks over a town emptied by fighting in South Sudan , a country wracked by conflict .
Arab News
10-06-2025
- Health
- Arab News
Medical charity shuts South Sudan hospital after attacks
NAIROBI: Doctors Without Borders, known as MSF, said it was forced to shut a hospital in South Sudan after violent looting, leaving a remote and conflict-plagued county without a major health facility. MSF said its hospital in Ulang, Upper Nile State, was 'completely destroyed' after armed individuals stormed the facility in April, threatened staff, and looted medicine worth $150,000. The attack left the facility 'in ruins and unable to function,' it said in a statement. South Sudan has descended into renewed conflict in recent months as a power-sharing agreement between rival generals, President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, has collapsed. 'The extensive losses from the looting have left us without the necessary resources to continue operations. We have no other option but to make the difficult decision to close the hospital,' MSF head of mission for South Sudan, Zakaria Mwatia, said. MSF said it has also withdrawn support from 13 primary health facilities in the county, adding that the move leaves the area 'without any secondary health care facility,' with the nearest one more than 200 km away. In May, another MSF hospital in Old Fangak in northern South Sudan was bombed, destroying its pharmacy and all its medical supplies. The incident came after the army threatened to attack the region in response to a number of boats and barges being 'hijacked' which it blamed on Machar's allies. South Sudan has been plagued by instability since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011.
Arab News
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
UN Security Council urges halt to fighting in South Sudan
UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council on Thursday urged an immediate halt to the fighting in South Sudan and renewed its peacekeeping mission in the warring country for another year. The UNSC 'demands all parties to the conflict and other armed actors to immediately end the fighting throughout South Sudan and engage in political dialogue,' the resolution read. The text, which called for an end to violence against civilians and voiced concern over the use of barrel bombs, was adopted by 12 votes in favor while Russia, China, and Pakistan abstained. Rights groups have recently sounded the alarm over the deadly use of the improvised and unguided explosives in the north of the country. The young and impoverished nation has been wracked for years by insecurity and political instability. But clashes in Upper Nile State between forces allied to President Salva Kiir and his rival, Vice President Riek Machar, have raised concerns over another civil war. Thursday's resolution also extended the UN's peacekeeping mission, founded in 2011 to consolidate peace, until next April. It also leaves open the possibility of 'adjusting' the force and altering its mandate 'based on security conditions on the ground.' Acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea said the international community should use the deployment as one tool to bring the country 'back from the brink.' Shea also said it would be 'irresponsible' to continue funding preparations for elections after the country's transitional leadership postponed any ballot by two years last September.
Medscape
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Medscape
South Sudan Clashes Block Aid to 60,000 Malnourished Kids
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Fighting along the Nile River in South Sudan has prevented humanitarian aid from reaching more than 60,000 malnourished children in the northeast of the country for almost a month, two United Nations agencies said on Thursday. The U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) and agency for children (UNICEF) said they expect nutrition supplies for Upper Nile State, which has some of the highest rates of malnutrition in the country, to run out by the end of May. "Children are already the first to suffer during emergencies. If we can't get nutrition supplies through, we are likely to see escalating malnutrition in areas already at breaking point," Mary-Ellen McGroarty, WFP's representative in South Sudan, said in a joint WFP-UNICEF statement. The Nile is a crucial transport artery in South Sudan because the impoverished country has few paved roads and a lot of challenging terrain, particularly during the rainy season when many roads become impassable. The agencies did not say which fighting had disrupted the route of their aid barges, but government forces have been fighting an ethnic Nuer militia known as the White Army in areas near the Nile since March. The battles led to the arrest of First Vice President Riek Machar and a spiralling political crisis, which the United Nations has warned could reignite the brutal civil war that ended in 2018. In mid-April, barges carrying 1,000 metric tonnes of food and nutrition supplies bound for Upper Nile State were forced to return due to insecurity, WFP and UNICEF said. The agencies decided against pre-positioning supplies in health centres and warehouses in insecure areas because they could have become targets for looting, they said. "We have reluctantly taken the unprecedented step of holding back supplies for fear that they will not reach the children that so desperately need them, due to the ongoing fighting, looting and disruption of the river route," said Obia Achieng, UNICEF's representative. (Reporting by Hereward Holland; editing by Mark Heinrich)
