United Nations News Centre - Amid fears ‘South Sudan is imploding,’ UN agencies launch urgent operation to reach remote areas
United Nations News Centre - Amid fears ‘South Sudan is imploding,’ UN agencies launch urgent operation to reach remote areas
Two United Nations agencies launched today an urgent operation to
deliver food, vaccines, nutrition supplements and other vital relief
supplies to one of the most isolated areas of conflict-affected South
Sudan, as part of a joint response to boost emergency distribution as
the crisis escalates.
Using helicopters and air drops, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP)
are now assisting 30,000 people in urgent need in Akobo, in Jonglei
State, near South Sudan’s border with Ethiopia. The agencies have set up
emergency distribution points for food, health, protection, education
and sanitation.
According to a joint press release,
Akobo is the first location the two agencies are reaching under the new
joint strategy. Fourteen such missions are planned over the next month,
seeking to support as many as 250,000 people in remote,
conflict-affected communities in Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity states.
Other agencies are expected to join the partnership.
“Children and families in South Sudan are now facing unprecedented
suffering - with worrying signs of malnutrition and disease outbreaks,"
said UNICEF’s Representative in the country, Jonathan Veitch.
“With the rainy season looming we have to seize every opportunity to
rapidly deploy teams and life-saving supplies to the hardest to reach.
This is how we will avert a humanitarian catastrophe.”
Earlier this month, WFP started a series of urgently needed airdrops of
food assistance to remote areas of South Sudan that have been
unreachable because of insecurity and other obstacles.
“The conflict…is pushing millions of people further into hunger and
complicating efforts to provide relief, and we are enormously concerned
that things could get worse,” said WFP Country Director Chris Nikoi.
“We have to act quickly to avert an even worse crisis as the rainy
season approaches. The mobile response teams are a swift and flexible
approach we have been using to reach as many people as we can with
assistance in a tremendously challenging environment,” he said.
Children displaced in Jonglei state, South Sudan. Photo: UNICEF/Kate Holt
