Of these, she estimated that 8.3 million people, including internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees, “will endure acute severe hunger during the lean season.”
Without fresh funding, WFP has warned that more vulnerable people will have revert to survival strategies such as skipping or reducing meals, selling assets, sending their children to work and child marriage.
The WFP official explained that more than two in three people are experiencing a serious humanitarian and protection crisis and need help to survive.
‘Help to survive’
The agency said that had left humanitarians essentially in ‘famine-prevention mode”.
“So far this year, we have seen 200,000 people newly displaced as a result of conflicts. And with displacement comes disruption in lives and livelihoods. And WFP, we’re at a situation where we simply do not have the resources to respond to new emergencies.”
“We are expecting a fourth year of massive flooding based on forecasts of an above-average rainfall, adding on to stagnant waters that have not receded from previous years,” said Ms. Badejo-Sanogo.
Expanding flood waters
“These are people that are experiencing emergency and crisis levels of food insecurity, what we call IPC4 and IPC3.”
Adeyinka Badejo-Sanogo, WFP Acting Country Director in South Sudan, said they had planned to provide food assistance to 6.2 million people this year, “but faced with increasing humanitarian needs and insufficient funding, we have taken the painful step to suspend food assistance to 1.7 million people.
“The political and security context in South Sudan remains volatile and it continues to aggravate the lives of communities,” the WFP official explained.
Brutal violence
Chronic levels of violence in parts of South Sudan continues to drive displacement and vulnerability, Ms. Badejo-Sanogo continued. In late April, additional UN peacekeepers were deployed to Leer county, after a surge in rapes, beheadings, civilians being burned alive and attacks on humanitarians.
In 2021, one million people fled their homes because of the flooding in South Sudan. This year, it’s estimated that approximately 600,000 are in the path of expanding flood waters and at risk of displacement.
There is particular concern because the cutbacks are happening at the start of the lean season. “Families have completely exhausted any food reserves and are likely to continue to suffer acute levels of hunger as the lean season deepens,” the WFP official said. “Essentially, WFP in South Sudan, we are in ‘famine-prevention’ mode.”
? ? ALERT: The suspension of assistance comes at the worst possible time for the people of #SouthSudan as the country faces its hungriest year since independence.
WFP had exhausted all options before suspending food assistance, including halving rations in 2021.
