South Sudan
Latest South Sudan News - May 2023
Food shortages
UNHCR rations are now only available to the elderly and vulnerable children on the refugee camps in surrounding countries such as Uganda. This lack of food is causing more people to return to their homeland however, until they have their first harvest, there is limited food available for them to survive on.
In South Sudan 1.3 million children under 5 are suffering acute malnutrition. It has been further reported that in South Sudan, cuts to the humanitarian budget will mean that 27,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition will go untreated, of which 3,000 could die.
In April 2024 a heatwave, with temperatures of over 45 degrees Celsius, caused schools to close. To compound matters previous floods have washed away the vital crops that are needed to keep the population alive.
Civil War and Unrest
In January this year more than 50 people, including United Nations peacekeepers, were killed in attacks in an area disputed between South Sudan and Sudan. South Sudan and Sudan jointly administer Abyei, and both claim ownership to the region in a dispute that has remained unresolved since the South’s independence in 2011.
A Kenyan led peace mediation is taking place between the South Sudanese government and its hold-out groups from May 2024. In March of this year there was a peace conference held in Kajo-Keji, South Sudan with around 500 participants, including religious leaders, government representatives, civil society organizations, and community members.
The relationship between South Sudan and Sudan (where civil war broke out in 2023) is at an all-time low over the disputed oil rich land between the two countries’ borders. An economically important oil pipeline has been ruptured by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which is fighting the Sudanese army for power in the country.
The Story of South Sudan
After many years of war, South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, achieved independence from the north in 2011. It is estimated that almost 400,000 people died in the five-year civil war that started in 2013. The country’s leaders, Mr Kiir and Mr Machar eventually signed a peace deal in 2018 and formed a unity government.
Since then, the country has battled flooding, hunger, violence and political bickering as the peace agreement has yet to be fully implemented. While large-scale clashes have subsided, violence in parts of the country persists. 2,240 people were killed in 2023, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project
In 2022, the Norwegian Refugee Council listed the conflict in South Sudan as one of the world’s 10 most neglected crises.
The people in the country regularly suffer from malnutrition which is primarily caused by extreme weather with flooding and severe heat waves a common occurrence.