
South Sudan: UNISFA Condemns renewed attacks in Abyei (26.09.2022)





The number of people facing life-threatening levels of hunger worldwide without immediate humanitarian aid, is expected to rise steeply in coming weeks, the UN said on Wednesday, in a new alert about looming famine in the Horn of Africa and beyond.
NEW YORK, United States of America, September 21, 2022 – In Somalia, “hundreds of thousands are already facing starvation today with staggering levels of malnutrition expected among children under five,” warned the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).“Large-scale deaths from hunger” are increasingly likely in the east African nation, the UN agencies continued, noting that unless “adequate” help arrives, analysts expect that by December, “as many as four children or two adults per 10,000 people, will die every day”.
Complex roots
In addition to the emergency already unfolding in Somalia, the UN agencies flagged 18 more deeply concerning “hunger hotspots”, whose problems have been created by conflict, drought, economic uncertainty, the COVID pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Humanitarians are particularly worried for Afghanistan, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen, where a record 970,000 people “are expected to face catastrophic hunger and are starving or projected to starve or at risk of deterioration to catastrophic conditions, if no action is taken”, the UN agencies said.
This is 10 times more than six years ago, when only two countries had populations as badly food insecure, FAO and WFP noted, in a new report.
Urgent humanitarian action is needed and at scale in all of these at-risk countries “to save lives and livelihoods” and prevent famine, the UN agencies insisted.
Harsh winter harvest
According to FAO and WFP, acute food insecurity around the world will worsen from October to January.
In addition to Somalia, they highlighted that the problem was also dire in the wider Horn of Africa, where the longest drought in over 40 years is forecast to continue, pushing people “to the brink of starvation”.
Successive failed rains have destroyed people’s crops and killed their livestock “on which their survival depends”, said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu, who warned that “people in the poorest countries” were most at risk from acute food security that was “rising fast and spreading across the world”.
FAO’s QU calls for massive aid scale-up
Vulnerable communities “have yet to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic are suffering from the ripple effects of ongoing conflicts, in terms of prices, food and fertilizer supplies, as well as the climate emergency,” the FAO chief continued.
He insisted that “without a massively scaled-up humanitarian response” to sustain agriculture, “the situation will likely worsen in many countries in the coming months”.
Echoing that message, WFP Executive Director David Beasley appealed for immediate action to prevent people dying.
“We urgently need to get help to those in grave danger of starvation in Somalia and the world’s other hunger hotspots,” he said.
Perfect storm of problems
“This is the third time in 10 years that Somalia has been threatened with a devastating famine,” Mr. Beasley continued.
“The famine in 2011 was caused by two consecutive failed rainy seasons as well as conflict. Today we’re staring at a perfect storm: a likely fifth consecutive failed rainy season that will see drought lasting well into 2023.”
In addition to soaring food prices, those most at risk from acute food insecurity also have “severely limited opportunities” to earn a living because of the pandemic, the WFP chief explained, as relief teams brace for famine in the Somali districts of Baidoa and Burhakaba in Bay region, come October.
Below the “highest alert” countries – identified as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen – the joint FAO-WFP report notes that the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Kenya, the Sahel, the Sudan and Syria are “of very high concern”, in addition to newcomers the Central African Republic and Pakistan.
Guatemala, Honduras and Malawi have also been added to the list of hunger hotspot countries, joining Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
Barriers to aid
Humanitarian assistance is crucial to save lives and prevent starvation, death and the total collapse of livelihoods, FAO and WFP insist, while highlighting chronic access problems caused by “insecurity, administrative and bureaucratic impediments, movement restrictions and physical barriers” in 11 of the 19 hotspot countries.
This includes “all six of the countries where populations are facing or are projected to face starvation…or are at risk of deterioration towards catastrophic conditions”, they said.








“We wish to inform the public that the Directorate of Crime Intelligence has arrested, a one Olimu Charles Sipapa, who was on the Police wanted list, for an alleged Aggravated Robbery, which occurred at the home of Jacob Arok, in Kawuku-Bunga, on the night of 28.08.2022. Arrangements are in place to hand him over to the CID task team at Kampala Metropolitan Police, for further interview and court action. The police leadership has commended the tireless efforts of the CID and CI task teams in arresting and helping to bring the suspect to justice. This now brings the number of suspects arrested to five. Any new developments shall be communicated accordingly.
SCP Fred Enanga
Police Spokesman
6.09.2022” (Uganda Police Force, 06.09.2022).
“UPDATE: Charles Olim alias Sipapa and the co-accused have been produced at Makindye Chief Magistrate Court and charged with 6 counts of aggravated robbery. They have been remanded to Luzira till 18/9/2022 when the case will come up for mention” (Criminal Investigations Directorate-UPF, 09.09.2022).
“The alleged South Sudanese man whose $429,000 USD was stolen in Kampala has been identified in as Jacob Nul Mayen Arok, the current Managing Director of the South Sudan National Pension Fund. He was appointed last year in July 2021 as the Managing Director of SSNPF” (Agany Malleher, 09.09.2022).
This week the world has turned on Charles Olim aka Sipapa. He went from being untouchable and a man of wealth. His was able to get away with flaunting his fortunes, vehicles and whatnot earlier in this year alone.
This here case is really special in two regards, the robbery of the South Sudanese gentlemen is wrong. However, it is also striking how quickly the South Sudanese gentleman gained his wealth. The South Sudan National Pension Fund (SSNPF) Managing Director Jacob Arok has amassed a massive fortune too in a little over year. Which he was able to have in cash in his Kampala home.
That’s why this story is important. Not only because a legendary and mysterious wealthy man like Sipapa stole the cash and valuable belongings from this home. No, it shows how someone who gets appointed into office in Juba is able to “eat”. I doubt that the Managing Director has such a vast salary and perks, which makes it possible to earn such amounts of money that fast.
For Arok it was his turn to eat and he ate. Nevertheless, it has been uncovered by another legendary man stole his loot. A thief took the cash and now people can question also how the Managing Director acquired all of it. Because, this money comes from somewhere and didn’t come out of nowhere.
Yes, the robbery and theft is wrong. Both in the house in Kampala and whatever blue-collar way it came from Juba. Since, there is a connection there and certainly the cash has been transferred, in one manner or another.
Sipapa has to answer for his sins and what he did. Nevertheless, the Arok has to answer for his too. Since, how did he get all this money and so fast? That’s a miracle and a fountain of cash. There must be more to the story.
We don’t know how Sipapa became wealthy and a socialite of some sense. He was able to be a mystery and expensive vehicles. If that was made out of thieving or not, we don’t know, but he was caught now. That’s done because the signal of one of the stolen phones showed where the stolen goods was at. This is was a futile enterprise and backfired on Sipapa. Since he has gotten away and been able to live large for so long.
Now, I wonder if the South Sudanese authorities will look into the questionable amount of cash and fortunes of Arok. Because, the robbery actually unravelled that. It shows how it is possible to get wealthy super quick.
That’s why this story is important for all the implications and the many sort of issues it creates. First, why has Sipapa been so shielded and how did he get wealthy? Secondly, why did it take so long to arrest him? Third, how did Arok have this money in his home and all the fancy gadgets too? Fourth, will Juba or the Authorities there look into the acquired wealth of Arok?
That’s what I wonder about today. There are so many loose ends and we need more details to get to the core. Both about Sipapa and Arok. They were to strangers who are now connected by different cons. They both are sought of caught and we can wonder what is happening next. Peace.

