Editor TLN
21 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The NGO Oxfam Intermón has warned that the wave of displacements due to violence in the South Sudanese region of Pibor, in the east of the country, has turned humanitarian aid into a race against time.
“Continued displacements caused by recent violence in the Pibor administrative area are likely to wipe out hopes of ever reducing levels of food insecurity,” the NGO warned.
According to a recent assessment by humanitarian agencies, at least 17,000 people are sheltering in schools and other facilities within the town of Pibor. The number will increase in the near future, they fear, since the fighting has also affected the communities of Lokuangole.
South Sudan has a unity government that began after the materialization of the 2018 peace agreement between the president, Salva Kiir, and the rebel leader Riek Machar, which led to the latter returning to the position of first vice president from the African country.
Despite the decrease in violence due to the political conflict, the country has registered an increase in inter-community confrontations, mainly motivated by the theft of cattle and disputes between herders and farmers in the most fertile areas of the country, especially due to the increase in desertification and displacement of populations.
Oxfam Intermón recalls that “some areas of Gran Pibor have already been in a state of desperate food insecurity for a long time,” denounces its director in the country, Manenji Mangundu.
Despite the difficulties, the NGO has managed to distribute “quick-impact non-food items” to some 2,500 households, and is stockpiling additional aid for the displaced.
