Humanitarian situation in South Sudan

According to the latest Humanitarian Bulletin on South Sudan (21 November 2016) by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the humanitarian situation today is dire.

Close to three million South Sudanese have had to flee their homes since civil war broke out in December 2013. An estimated 1.87 million people have been internally displaced and over a million people are refugees in neighbouring countries. A fragile peace process collapsed in July 2016, triggering another upsurge in fighting, with Western, Central and Eastern Equatoria particularly severely affected. Also badly hit has been Unity State. Humanitarian organisations have been scaling-up their response. There are warnings of unprecedented levels of food insecurity in early 2017. An estimated 4.8 million people were food insecure in July 2016. There has also been an outbreak of cholera. OCHA’s head of operations recently said: “The gravity of the situation that the people of South Sudan face cannot be overstated.”

Meanwhile, amidst warnings of the possibility of genocide, the UN Security Council has authorised the deployment of a 4,000-strong ‘Regional Protection Force’ of East African troops to assist the beleaguered and much-criticised UN mission there. After a long period of hesitation, the South Sudanese Government has agreed to cooperate with the force, but it is not yet on the ground. Discussions continue within the Council about increasing sanctions against senior government officials believed to have obstructed peace efforts and imposing an arms embargo. The UK supports doing both. But Russia and China remain highly reluctant to support such measures. A resolution has yet to be formally tabled.