By Aweye Teddy Onam
China has donated food items worth $1,400,000 to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs in response to the influx of returnees and refugees and food insecurity in the country.
China’s Ambassador to South Sudan, Ma Qiang, said China is going to send emergency food aid to South Sudan worth $1.4 million to address the food insecurity challenges facing the people of South Sudan.
He disclosed this during their meeting with the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management on Friday.
Ambassador Qiang said, that considering the dire humanitarian situation at the transit centers, he hopes the donation and emergency food aid will be helpful for the South Sudanese government to deal with the food insecurity challenge.
“I just had a good meeting with the Honorable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs. We discussed the food insecurity challenges facing the South Sudanese people, and I told him that, under the direction of our President, Mr. Xi Jinping, China is going to send emergency food aid to South Sudan, and it’s about $1.4 million,” he said.
Albino Akol Atak, the humanitarian Affairs minister, noted that the purpose of the meeting was to follow up on previous meetings that they had over Chinese support for the emergency response.
Akol said they have received almost 370,000 returnees and refugees who are all vulnerable.
“It is in that context that they are always in contact with the China Embassy to discuss a range of support that China is sending to help the government of South Sudan.”
“Responding to the dire situation first is the consignment of tents, and almost more than 8,000 pieces of tents are already coming next week,” Albino stated.
According to Minister Akol, donated non-food and food items will arrive in the country in the next two months or less.
He underscored that the humanitarian items will support the Ministry’s effort in responding to the needy who are fleeing Sudan and even those who have been affected by floods and food insecurity in the country.
The Minister appreciated China’s support and commended the Ambassador for the information.
“We really give a great appreciation to the Ambassador of China and, of course, to the government and the people of China for this generous support to the people of South Sudan, and we believe this will push the government to deliver these assistances to its vulnerable people.”
Meanwhile, the newly appointed undersecretary of humanitarian affairs, William Chan Achuil, said the looming threat of natural hazards is affecting the people of South Sudan, leading to disaster.
Chan appealed to the Chinese government to continue supporting the people of South Sudan, especially in responding to the influx of returnees and refugees.
On Wednesday, a member of parliament told the No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper that over 1,000 people from Lafon County have started trekking to Juba, fleeing starvation in the area.
Ungang Nelson Uthuou, MP representing Lafon County constituency in the National Legislative Assembly (TNLA), said drought hit Lafon County this year, making the locals very food insecure and forcing them to flee in search of survival elsewhere.
Mr. Ungang echoed that Lafon County has been grappling with this situation for a very long time since independence, and no serious measures have been taken to help salvage his community.
The area MP said that, as a representative of the people, he has echoed the voice of his people several times but to no response.
Over 5.82 million people in the country are experiencing acute food insecurity and malnutrition, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report for South Sudan, released early this week.
The IPC’s latest report estimates that about 5.78 million people will also be food insecure during pre- and post-harvest periods, potentially by December 2023.
The report released by the government and three United Nations agencies detailed that 7.1 million people would face crisis, emergency, and catastrophic levels of hunger in the next lean season of April to July next year.