SUDAN: "Hunger gap" threat growing in the south

Photo: Peter Martell/IRIN

A child being weighed by Medair officials in Akobo to check for malnutrition

JUBA, 13 August 2009 (IRIN) - Concern is growing at the likely humanitarian impact of poor rains and high levels of insecurity in Southern Sudan, with aid workers and officials warning of a major hunger gap in coming months.

"Southern Sudan is faced with a massive food deficit caused by a combination of late rains, high levels of insecurity and displacement, disruptions [to] trade and high food prices," said Lise Grande, the UN Deputy Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Southern Sudan.

Speaking at a news conference on 12 August in Khartoum, she added: "The rains necessary for the first harvest have failed, which will extend the hunger gap from June all the way through October, when it normally ends in August."

The extension of the period between the depletion of stored food and the new harvest means extra food aid is needed. "Although it is still too early to tell for sure, the rains for the second and main harvest are likely to be moderate, if not below average," Grande added.

Aid agencies have already warned of a food aid shortfall and worry that malnutrition rates are rising. "We have been treating several children for malnutrition in Akobo," said Eunice Kavoi, team leader for the aid agency Medair in Akobo County of Jonglei State.

Medair launched a paediatric feeding programme in the area in June, providing children with therapeutic food – a fortified sweet peanut butter called Plumpy’nut.

"Logistics is complicated, but we have chartered flights to bring in special food for children, which helps enormously," Kavoi added.

The World Food Programme (WFP), a key source of food for locals in Akobo, has received some 83 percent of the food aid it requested in 2009 - 80,000MT out of 96,000MT.

It estimates it will need an additional 22,000MT, half of which is intended for eastern Jonglei State - an area hardest hit by recent fighting.

The rains necessary for the first harvest have failed, which will extend the hunger gap from June all the way through October, when it normally ends in August

Security fears

The UN has warned that WFP's ability to deliver much-needed supplies was being hampered by the violence. "WFP and its partners have called on the government to put an end to inter-tribal fighting, which is endangering the delivery of humanitarian aid," UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe said following an attack on 2 August .

More than 185 people died outside Akobo at a fishing camp of Lou Nuer people. Some had been among the more than 19,000 people who had fled to Akobo after clashes in April.

Local aid workers in Jonglei say the impact of limited food supplies is being felt.

"WFP are delivering regular supplies, and have increased the amount they are getting in using more helicopters," said Peter Yien Jal, administrative officer for the Nile Hope Development Foundation NGO, based in Akobo town. "But there is a huge demand: people receive rations but they quickly run out."

The last attempted shipment by river to Akobo of more than 700MT of WFP food was sunk or stolen in June during an attack in which some 95 soldiers accompanying the delivery were killed.

The roads to the region are impassable most of the year. "The rains and the harvest last year were not great, and the rains this year were poor," Jal added. "Combined with the recent violence, that is hurting very many people."

Lately, the rains have become a problem, regularly closing the mud airstrip at Akobo - and elsewhere in the region - to all but costly helicopter flights.

Grande warned that Sudanese authorities, aid workers and the UN were being stretched to the limits, noting that 27 major operations were under way in eight Southern states targeting 190,000 people. Initial UN plans had estimated there might be 10 projects for the whole year, she added.

Photo: Erich Ogoso/IRIN

Relief food being offloaded from a Bufallo transport plane hired by WFP, in Akobo

No easy solutions 

Meanwhile, others have warned that no quick fix should be expected. USAID’s Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) notes those worst affected are already those least able to cope, comprising mainly “returnees, the chronically food-insecure, conflict-affected households, and some refugees”.

Fighting in the Jonglei and Upper Nile region between the Lou Nuer and Jikany Nuer, it added, could be difficult to stop.

"Past experience [1993, 1995 and 2004] has shown that conflict between these two groups can extend for long periods of time, and often disrupts cultivation, access to dry season grazing and fishing areas, and informal grain/livestock exchange mechanisms," it warned in June.

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