The largest air-drop in history, larger even than the Berlin air-drop of 1948, is now taking place in the skies over southern Sudan. Every day, from 6 a.m. C130 Hercules planes take off from Khartoum and El Obeid in northern Sudan and from Nairobi and Lokichokkio in Kenya to drop bales of maize and beans to feed the starving people of southern Sudan. Up to 6,000 tonnes of food are now being delivered at a cost of $30 million every month. But despite all the efforts of the UN World Food Programme, the UN estimates that more than 200 people are still dying every day in southern Sudan.
The response to the current crisis in the region came much too late. The drought-induced crop failure occurred last August. The upsurge in fighting in Bahr El Ghazal which drove the people of the region to leave their homes, occurred at the end of January.
Since then, aid agencies have been warning of the imminent danger of famine in Bahr El Ghazal. Last September the SRRA, the humanitarian wing of the rebel movement which controls much of southern Sudan, was calling for help to avert wholesale food shortages. Mr Benjamin Majok, an SRRA official, told me that the international community would not believe that the people were in trouble until they saw the first pictures of the starving appear in the press and on television. Right up to March of this year the WFP were denying that there was a famine. While the Sudanese government in Khartoum attempted to dictate who should eat and who should not eat, and the UN-led Operation Lifeline Sudan prevaricated and bowed to the whims of Khartoum, the people ate the seeds they should have been saving for planting. Then they slaughtered their livestock. By the time a response was formulated, an entire population was surviving on roots and leaves. Now it is estimated that 2.5 million people are in need of food aid in the region.
There will be no harvest this month because of the late arrival of the rains. The best case scenario is that, if enough seeds are brought into the area to allow a full harvest to be planted in the spring, the people will be able to meet their own food needs by this time next year. Until then, they will be entirely dependent on the lifebuoy thrown to them by the international community.
Even now that lifebuoy is not enough. You cannot feed a country from the air. The UN air operation is too small, too spasmodic and too dependent on the weather. The media spotlight will not remain focused on southern Sudan for the next 12 months. What then are the chances of the UN continuing to receive funding until this time next year for an air-drop costing $30 million a month?
The only viable long-term method for transporting food aid to the region is by road. The land link through northern Uganda must be made operational. Security must be provided to protect the convoys. Only then can we hope to avert colossal loss of life.
The present three-month ceasefire announced this week between the SPLA and the Khartoum government is probably only a brief respite. Once the fighting resumes, the civilian population of the south will again be forced on the move. There is no doubt in my mind that the only longterm solution is a permanent end to the hostilities. Unfortunately, the prospect of a peace settlement is extremely unlikely. In the absence of a settlement I believe that an international peace-keeping force should be sent to protect the beleaguered people there from attack by the Arab raiders who receive tacit support from Khartoum.
In the meantime, the international community must prove that they are serious about saving the lives of the people. The mounting of the biggest air-drop in history is a hollow claim to fame if it is only feeding half of the population; 2.5 million people in southern Sudan will need to receive food aid for the next 12 months.
The Khartoum government has recently been threatening to again restrict foreign food aid into the region and are enforcing an embargo on aid into the Nuba mountains. The international community should not countenance any move on the part of Khartoum to use its sovereignty to stop food getting to the starving people. It is imperative that the nominal control of national frontiers does not impede the delivery of food to the people who need it. The international community must decide that they are on the side of people whose lives have been left hanging in the balance by a civil war raging beyond their control. It must decide that it cares enough about the long-term survival of the people to find a solution. Otherwise, southern Sudan will be in the news for many years to come, and for all the wrong reasons.
John O'Shea is director of the relief and development organisation GOAL.