UN calls for humanitarian access in South Sudan

By Parach Mach

JUBA, South Sudan (AA) - The UN on Wednesday pledged to deliver aid to a million South Sudanese people displaced by the country’s three-year civil war.

David Shearer, the head of the UN mission in South Sudan, also called on the warring parties to provide humanitarian zones to allow aid to reach those forced to flee the conflict.

“Access ı̇s critical to the deli̇very of humani̇tari̇an ai̇d to the needy people ı̇n South Sudan,” he told a news conference in Juba.

“Access ı̇s certainly what the international community, particularly the Uni̇ted Nati̇ons, has struggled with.”

On Monday, the UN declared a famine in parts of South Sudan, warning that 100,000 people faced starvation and 1 million were on the brink of famine. It was the first such declaration since Somalia in 2011, where more than 250,000 people died.

In Unity state bordering Sudan, tens of thousands have been forced from their homes in the face of a government offensive against opposition-held areas.

Shearer said aid agencies were struggling to deal with the “man-made” famine in a country where almost all systems have failed to protect the most vulnerable.

“The situation is indeed serious in terms of food shortage,” he said. “I just wanted point out there is nothing about this food shortage that is climatic. This is all about man-made problems. It is conflict which has displaced people and made them not able to partake in the ordinary livelihood in this place.”