South Sudan: Rising food insecurity pushing people into famine conditions in South Sudan, warns International Rescue Committee (IRC) – (02.02.2021)

Increasing risk of famine amidst the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing more than 7 million people into hunger.

NEW YORK, United States of America, January 2, 2021 – The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is extremely concerned about the counties in South Sudan where an increasing risk of famine amidst the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing more than 7 million people into hunger. Food insecurity is rising amidst massive displacement of civilians resulting from a perfect storm of crises; the effects of years of conflict, an economic crisis, recurrent flooding and COVID-19. According to the IRC’s 2021 Watchlist, the risk of famine will increase even more in 2021. With more than 60% of the South Sudanese population facing food insecurity, the IRC is calling for a scale-up in international financial support and improvements in access for food assistance for South Sudan to prevent famine.

Caroline Sekyewa, South Sudan Country Director at the IRC, said,

“People in South Sudan were already struggling to access food. This year, counties are experiencing the impact of years of conflict, and peace is still extremely fragile. Further, an economic crisis, flooding and COVID-19 is forcing more people to go hungry as they lose their livelihoods and ability to feed their families. COVID-19-induced economic downturns and drops in oil prices are constraining the new government’s ability to implement the peace deal, whose implementation is already heavily delayed. South Sudan is the tenth deadliest country for civilians in the world – though many incidents likely go unreported.”

“It is estimated that 11,000 people are experiencing famine and this is likely amongst households where recent conflict and two consecutive years of severe floods are exhausting coping capacity. Due to the combined impact of devastating floods, conflict, and worsening economic conditions, most households are not able to meet their basic food needs or are using extremely detrimental strategies to cope. Amongst the 7 million people going hungry, 1.7 million people are estimated to be battling emergency levels of hunger across 35 counties, with areas of greatest concern concentrated in Jonglei, Unity, Lakes, Warrap, and Upper Nile.”

“Going into 2021, the 2018 peace deal remains fragile and even if it holds, conflict will continue, with civilian populations and humanitarians caught in the middle. Civilians and aid workers continue to face harm. Experts recorded over 500 fatalities in “violence against civilians” incidents in the first nine months of 2020. COVID-19 threatens to exacerbate the country’s health crises, given its extremely low coping capacity. More than half of the population has no access to primary health services, which, alongside limited access to clean water, poor sanitation services and extremely low immunization rates, has left the population highly susceptible to diseases like COVID-19. IRC calls on more support and funding for people in South Sudan as food insecurity threatens lives. ”

The IRC is one of the largest aid providers in South Sudan, operating there for over 30 years and delivering emergency assistance and supporting vulnerable populations in hard-to-reach areas. Our health response includes capacity building in state clinics, training of local health workers, nutrition programs, and sanitation services. We also provide support to survivors of sexual violence and child protection services. Community leaders and government officials are trained on the importance of upholding human rights. The IRC helps empower people through cash assistance, job and livelihoods training. Learn more about the IRC’s South Sudan response.

South Sudan: Flash Update on the humanitarian response scale-up (As of 31 December 2020) – (02.02.2021)

South Sudan: President Salva Kiir Mayardit – His Excellency the President New Year’s Message (31.12.2020)

South Sudan: Ministry of Presidential Affairs – Press Statement (22.12.2020)

South Sudan: A Political Deadlock over the Forever Dynamic Duo…

It is a reason why there haven’t been much movement of the recent agreed peace-agreement and ceasefire. Which is the reason for the current stalemate of Revitalized-Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) and their lacking of honouring the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS). Which to this day isn’t resolved and neither is many aspects of it.

None of the bodies which is supposed to monitor and help the TGoNU ahead isn’t putting enough pressure or even push it ahead in a good direction. It is worrying that so little are being done and the continued presence or inaction. As the R-ARCSS, the deadlines and the implementation it. The leaked report on the National Dialogue have this citation, which states a fact that says it all.

Citation from the Final Report:

Power Struggle and Political Deadlock:” (…) “The Steering Committee of the South Sudan National Dialogue has opted in this final report to narrate these violent episodes of power struggle and political deadlock to make a broader point, which is that President Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar have irreconcilable political differences and personal hatred towards one another. They have therefore created an unbreakable political deadlock in the country, and they no longer have the political will or moral leadership capacity to move beyond personal grudges and egos. Our country is stuck in the hands of these two leaders and both have proven beyond reasonable doubt that their joint leadership is no longer capable of getting the country out of its present predicament. It has become increasingly obvious that nothing is likely to improve or work in South Sudan unless this political deadlock is broken. The vicious cycle of the political deadlock is such that whenever President Kiir and Dr. Machar are brought together into one government, that government cannot move forward, because they endlessly disagree. And yet, if they are not in the government together, they are most likely to violently fight one another in a war that neither appears capable of winning. They then get forced to negotiate a formal end to the violence in another power sharing deal which immediately stalls as they cannot cooperate. South Sudan and its people are therefore caught in this tragic vicious cycle” (Sudans Post – ‘FULL-TEXT: Final report of South Sudan’s National Dialogue’ 17.12.2020).

These two are apparently forced to work together and got to work together too. This is two parties that got to start to work together. If the National Dialogue and the R-ARCSS to be deemed successful … the SPLM-IG, SPLM-IO, SSOMA and every other stakeholder needs to cooperate. Unless, they are all planning to stall the operation and waste time before they have to make a new arrangement.

It is not shocking that the Machar and Kiir are not working well together. Last time they re-started the conflict and started fighting inside Juba. Therefore, these two have to work together and trust each other. However, if they want the agreement and get it implemented they need to cooperate.

The President and his FVP needs to work as a team to move things forward. Kiir and Machar needs bury their grudges and move-on. It is easy to say, but they have to do it. That has to be done not for themselves, but for the Republic of South Sudan.

These two leaders needs to get their act together and be professional as they are civil servants and running a transitional government. The President and FVP needs to do that. It is vital not only for themselves, but for the Republic itself. As they are unelected leader, but forever long duo who is in-charge

Machar and Kiir needs to revitalize their relations. They need to work and not be “war-lords”. These two needs become a trusted duo and implement the agreement. Not just create a deadlock, but actually achieve something.

They could have been a power duo and someone remembered for establishing a function government. Not just fully fledged cronyism and postponing the R-ARCSS. Which is the reason for them being together in government.

It is striking that the report says these two doesn’t have the ability or capacity to make difference. Kiir and Machar needs to properly sit down and iron things out. They have had the ceremonies and signing the agreements. Now its about time that they work together too.

The republic deserves that from the current President and FVP. They deserve nothing less… Peace.

South Sudan: Office of the Vice President – Press Statement – Ref: Clarity on the mission of the Vice-President-Services Delivery Cluster to Sudan, Khartoum on November 13th 2020 (18.12.2020)

South Sudan: Humanitarian community in South scales up response to saves lives (18.12.2020)

South Sudan: Ministry of Agriculture & Food Security – Statement on the food security in South Sudan (13.12.2020)

South Sudan: UNHCR & IGAD – Inclusion of displaced persons in implementation of South Sudan’s peace agreement key to success (11.12.2020)

South Sudan: Ministry of Presidential Affairs – Press Statement (09.12.2020)