Lekuangole (Sudan): The United Nations has warned that South Sudan, including Yemen, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria, are the four countries in which some areas are famine may be required.
Pibor County in South Sudan suffered horrific violence and unprecedented flooding this year. Seven families in the country’s Lecuanguole city told the Associated Press that 13 of their children died of hunger between February and November. The head of governance here, Peter Golu, said he received reports from community leaders that between September and December, 17 children died of hunger in and around villages.
The famine review committee report released this month by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification could not declare famine due to insufficient data. But it is believed that there is a famine in South Sudan. This means that at least 20 percent of the families are facing food crisis and at least 30 percent of the children are severely malnourished. However the Government of South Sudan does not agree with the findings of the report.
The government says that if there is a famine, it will be seen as a failure. The chairman of the country’s food safety committee, John Pangech, said, “They are speculating…, we are talking on the facts here.” They don’t know the ground reality. “
The government says that 11,000 people in the country are on the verge of hunger and this is a much lower number than the 1,05,000 estimate given by food safety experts in the report. South Sudan is struggling to recover from the five-year civil war. Food safety experts believe that the hunger crisis has arisen due to persistent state of war.
Alex De Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation, said that whatever is happening, the government of South Sudan is not only ignoring its seriousness, but also denying the fact that for this purpose His own policies and military strategy are responsible.
