By Ephraim Modi D.S
The Vice President for Gender and Youth Cluster, Rebecca Nyandeng yesterday expressed worries about the situation in the country, and warned South Sudanese on looming severe hunger amid effects of natural and man-made disasters.
Nyandeng made the statement during a three days conference on Child Protection in South Sudan organized by United Nations Mission in South Sudan- (UNMISS).
“Let me warn you, this year, there will be a lot of hunger in this country, hunger will be there created by natural disasters and also man-made is there because of what is happening in Russia and Ukraine, now the whole world (Europe and America) is all talking about food, inflation, something we used not to hear and now we are hearing this thing in the media,” she said.
On Dec 16, 2015, Serge Tissot, the representative for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in South Sudan said there are three main factors driving food shortages and these are; conflict, price hikes and drought.
According to the World Food Program- (WFP), food insecurity in South Sudan has reached its extreme levels since independence in 2011.
The famine has eased after a significant scale up in the humanitarian response. However, the situation remains dire across the country as 8.3 million people- 75 percent of the population are facing severe food insecurity.
Since then, WFP has hinted that it needs around US$526 million to ensure uninterrupted food assistance to the people of South Sudan.