South Sudan government under fire in famine crisis
AN APPEAL to help famine-hit East Africa reached £24m as International Development Secretary Priti Patel condemned the “abhorrent” actions of South Sudan’s government for adding to the crisis.
The humanitarian disaster has seen aid workers face “harrowing” conditions in South Sudan and Somalia, Ms Patel said.
On a visit to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) headquarters in London, Ms Patel praised the work being carried out by charities in the region and called on the international community to put pressure on South Sudan’s government to end the civil war in the country.
The first famine anywhere in the world for six years has been declared in South Sudan, but the country’s authorities have been blamed for hampering the flow of food and aid to affected people.
The UK Government has committed £10m in match-funding to the DEC’s appeal, but Ms Patel said other countries needed to step up and add to the political pressure on South Sudan.
After speaking to aid workers, she said: “Unsurprisingly, the conditions in both Somalia and South Sudan are, quite frankly, harrowing. In South Sudan, the situation is exacerbated by the civil war that is taking place and by the abhorrent actions that we are seeing from the warring parties.
“As I have said to all of them, the work that they are doing is quite remarkable in terms of the front line.
“The work that they have been able to do in terms of getting aid to people in desperate need is just so essential.”
She added: “It is in all our interests to bring peace and stability to that country and they need a political process to go on and do that.
“That government needs to recognise the amount of harm that they are doing to their own population.”
She said she had been “quite spiky” on the issue, but it needed the international community to “stand with Britain, call that government out, say ‘stop the war and start looking after the people that you are meant to look after and support”’.
Oxfam’s humanitarian lead, Richard Corbett, was among the aid workers who have just returned from South Sudan.
“The famine is being caused by conflict in terms of a lack of ability for people to grow food and people fleeing their homes and possessions, so the situation is being exacerbated by conflict,” he said.
“Aid is getting to the ground everywhere except for the key places which are actively in the conflict zone.”
He said there were problems with people who had recently been forced to flee conflict zones because they had not been registered with the aid agencies.