This will be South Sudan’s hungriest year ever: Experts

Fangak (South Sudan), January 9

Nyayiar Kuol cradled her severely malnourished year-old daughter as they travelled for 16 hours on a crowded barge to the nearest hospital to their home in rural South Sudan. For months, she had been feeding her four children just once a day, unable to cultivate because of disastrous flooding and without enough food assistance from the government or aid groups. She worries her daughter might die.

Food insecurity at horrific level

The year 2021 was the worst since independence in the 10 years of the life of this country and 2022 will be worse. Food insecurity is at horrific levels. Matthew Hollingworth, country representative for world food programme

“I don’t want to think about what could happen,” she said, seated on her hospital bed in Old Fangak town in hard-hit Jonglei state. The 36-year-old Kuol tried to calm her daughter while blaming the government for not doing more. Nearly two years have passed since South Sudan formed a coalition government as part of a fragile peace deal to end a five-year civil war that plunged pockets of the country into famine, and yet Kuol said nothing had changed.

“If this country was really at peace, there wouldn’t be hunger like there is now,” she said. More people will face hunger this year in South Sudan than ever, said aid groups. That’s because of the worst floods in 60 years as well as conflict and the sluggish implementation of the peace agreement that has denied much of the country basic services.

“The year 2021 was the worst since independence in the 10 years of the life of this country and 2022 will be worse. Food insecurity is at horrific levels,” said Matthew Hollingworth, country representative for the World Food Programme in South Sudan. — AP

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