JUBA – Almost half the population of south Sudan is facing food shortages because of conflict and drought – a four-fold rise in the numbers needing aid since last year – officials said yesterday.
“Internal conflict and incursions from the Lord’s Resistance Army together with drought have made almost half the population of the south short of food,” said southern Sudan agriculture and forestry minister Samson Kwaje.
A total of 4.3 million need food aid in the oil-producing south, up from around one million last year, the UN said.
A surge in tribal fighting has killed more than 2,500 people since the beginning of 2009, aid groups say, and seasonal rains were weak across much of the underdeveloped region.
A census released last year showed a Sudanese population of 39.15 million, with 30.89 million living in the mainly Muslim north and 8.26 million in the south. The south contests the census, saying it undercounts southerners.
The UN’s world food programme (WFP) said violence had forced 350,000 people to flee their homes in 2009, leaving them dependent on food aid. Last year’s poor seasonal rains also destroyed harvests, and the area was bracing for this year’s rains, which could disrupt transport, it added.
“This spike in the number of hungry people in southern Sudan comes just ahead of the rainy season, when roads become blocked and communities are cut off from food assistance,” said Leo van der Velden, WFP co-ordinator for the south.
The WFP said it was hoping to help people across the region until the next harvest in October and November. – (Reuters)