NAIROBI: Aid and some small harvests have helped stave off a feared famine in South Sudan, but any more fighting there could still leave millions facing severe hunger next year, a senior World Food Programme (WFP) official said yesterday.
The United Nations had warned in May that up to 4 million people would be on the brink of starvation by the end of 2014, after months of clashes threatened harvests and shut down aid programmes.
Development agencies launched an appeal and the response, together with rainfall, meant that “what was speculated about famine... (has been) temporarily averted,” WFP’s South Sudan Deputy Country Director, Eddie Rowe, said.
About 10,000 people have died and over a million have been displaced since fighting broke out between President Salva Kiir’s government forces and rebels allied to his former deputy Riek Machar in December last year. Earlier this week, rebels attacked Unity State capital Bentiu, shattering months of relative calm during the rainy season when sodden roads make fighting and movement of equipment almost impossible. Reuters
