South Sudan Falling Apart

 Looting of emergency food supplies and attacks on aid workers are rising in South Sudan, where hunger is causing unrest.

A security vacuum is fuelling the violence as communities take up arms to fend for themselves amid unprecedented food shortages, aid agencies have warned.

70% of the country’s population will struggle through the coming lean season. An estimated 8.9 million people in South Sudan are in need of humanitarian aid, including 680,000 people affected by floods since May 2021.

 There have been numerous attacks this year on aid convoys, warehouses and medical teams.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said its warehouses were looted four times in February in Unity state, depriving about 23,000 people affected by flooding of crucial aid. The attacks led aid workers to leave, meaning the agency had to suspend some operations.

A World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in Leer, Unity state, which has become a focal point for people displaced by fighting in the region, has also been looted. Almost 40,000 people had arrived in the town in Unity state by the end of February due to fighting nearby.

 Last week a convoy of WFP trucks delivering food was ambushed in Jonglei state.

Médecins Sans Frontières said a health team was robbed at gunpoint and two of their vehicles were burned in the Yei district of Central Equatoria state this month, forcing them to temporarily halt operations.

“Ultimately, it’s the most vulnerable of the most vulnerable who suffer most,” said Annette Hearns, deputy head of the UN’s office for humanitarian affairs.

Abraham Diing Akoi, a South Sudanese researcher, said the absence of government intervention was forcing communities to fend for themselves, including by arming their youth.

“When the government cannot provide you basic things like schools, healthcare and medicine, people understand that the government is not functional,” he said. “You have to survive so you get [what you need] for yourself. That can include looting humanitarian supplies or going to another community to take cattle.”

Nicholas Haysom, head of the UN mission in South Sudan, told the UN security council this week: “The dire economic situation and its impact on youth has resulted in a surge in criminality and xenophobic hostility towards humanitarians and peacekeepers.”

Marwa Awad, with the WFP in South Sudan, said three years of flooding had worsened food scarcity.

“People are losing their livelihoods, cattle, homes, land and crops. So imagine you are struggling to survive or build a stable future because of conflict, displacement and high food prices, then the floods come to finish you off. Sadly, people here do not get a moment’s rest,” she said.

Looting and attacks on aid workers rise as hunger adds to unrest in South Sudan | Global development | The Guardian