This archive report was first published on 10 July 2019.
July 10, 2019, marked eight years since South Sudan gained independence, but the world's youngest nation continues to grapple with hunger. A recent United Nations report reveals that nearly half the population, approximately 6.1 million people, are facing some degree of food insecurity.
Climate-related issues, economic instability, and pockets of ongoing conflict have driven millions of refugees to neighboring countries. Others seek food and safety at U.N. Protection of Civilians sites, or POCs, within the country.
Thomson Phiri, the World Food Program's communications manager in South Sudan, described the complexity of the situation: 'South Sudan is one of the most complex programs globally for the World Food Program, because 60 percent of the area is inaccessible by road during the rainy season, and ironically, the rainy season coincides with the peak hunger season in South Sudan, when people struggle to put food on their tables.'
At a food distribution center in the U.N. POC in Malakal, South Sudan, WFP staff distributed monthly food rations to internally displaced people. Mary La, who has lived in the camp with her 12 children for six years, shared her story: 'Before the 2013 war, things were good outside there.' She and her husband used to farm and fish, but now they rely on humanitarian aid and struggle to make the food allotment last each month.
Others in the crowded tent city expressed a desire to return home but have never tried due to concerns about their safety. Elijah Nyol Lual, the Director of Relief and Rehabilitation in Central Upper Nile State, emphasized the importance of peace: 'They want to see the preparation of the National Government; I think that will give them the confidence that now we think that peace is in place.'
Despite last year's fragile peace deal, the country's Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Onyoti Adigo Nyikuac, emphasized the need for self-sufficiency: 'The problem is not somebody coming to give us food to become independent; the problem is how we can produce our own food.'
Hazel Dewey, the UNMISS Field Coordinator for the Upper Nile region, highlighted the importance of peace in allowing people to return to their normal lives: 'If you don't have peace, people won't be able to go back, plant, harvest and return to their normal life.'
