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Experts Warn of Food Insecurity in South Sudan That Could Lead to Famine

Dimo Silva Aurelio

   JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN - Three U.N. organizations are calling for immediate
   humanitarian access to parts of Pibor County in South Sudan's Jonglei
   state, where people have run out of food and are facing catastrophic
   levels of hunger, according to a report on food insecurity in the
   country.

   The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report,
   released Friday, identified Pibor County as one of the areas
   experiencing a crisis level of food insecurity because of widespread
   flooding and insecurity, which have prevented aid agencies from
   delivering food.

   The IPC report indicates that in the coming year, an estimated 5.8
   million people in South Sudan will likely face IPC Phase 3, which is
   classified as acute food insecurity.

   The IPC analysis estimates that by mid-2021, an estimated 7.24 million
   people, or 60 percent of the South Sudanese population, including about
   1.4 million children under age 5, are expected to be acutely
   malnourished, the highest number in three years, according to the
   United Nations.

   Poor crops, pandemic, pests

   Several factors have contributed to food insecurity in South Sudan,
   according to Isaiah Chol Aruai, who chairs the country's National
   Bureau of Statistics.

   "The food security situation and nutrition situation has deteriorated,"
   Aruai told South Sudan in Focus. "This is because of pockets of
   insecurity that have led to population displacement, low crop
   production because of climate shocks such as floods and drought, the
   ongoing microeconomic crisis and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic,
   pests such as desert locusts, and inadequate multisectoral humanitarian
   assistance."

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