Latest news with #UpperNileState
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)
Al Arabiya
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
South Sudan clashes block aid to 60,000 malnourished children
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 UN's World Food Program (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 spiraling 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 tons 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 centers 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.
Reuters
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
South Sudan clashes block aid to 60,000 malnourished children
NAIROBI, May 8 (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.
