UN / KANG SOUTH SUDAN

The United Nations Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Kyung-wha Kang said that the humanitarian community needs to do “some innovative, out-of-the-box thinking” if it’s to provide humanitarian aid to estimated 78 million people in 22 countries that will need assistance in 2015. UNIFEED-UNTV

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:52
• Production Date: 4 December 2014
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS - OCHA
• Subject Topical: PEACE AND SECURITY; HUMANITARIAN RELIEF; HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
• Geographic Subject: SOUTH SUDAN
• MAMS Id: 1257887

Description

STORY: UN / KANG SOUTH SUDAN
TRT: 1.52
SOURCE: UNIFEED-UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 4 DECEMBER 2014, NEW YORK CITY

Shotlist

RECENT
1. Wide shot, exterior of the UNHQ

4 DECEMBER 2014, NEW YORK CITY

2. Zoom in, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Kyung-wha Kang, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“There has to be some innovative, out-of-the-box thinking on how to found these huge crises. That are becoming – not only in terms of the case loads but becoming more and more expensive to do the delivery of assistance and to protect people.”
4. Med shot, press room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Kyung-wha Kang, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“Aid organizations have reached more than 3.5 million people with assistance this year, have helped to avert famine and have brought a deadly cholera outbreak under control. They have been able to achieve these thanks to the generous support of donors, but the situation remains bleak.”
6. Cutaway, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Kyung-wha Kang, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“We are concern that the violence will further escalate in the upcoming weeks and months as it had done in past dry seasons. Indead, fighting has already flared up in Unity and Upper Nile States, with military mobilization reported in Jonglei state. An estimated 4000 people were recently displaced from fighting in [Atar] in Jonglei.
8. Cutaway, journalist
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Kyung-wha Kang, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“In Addis, I had the opportunity to brief the AU Peace and Security Council on the crisis in South Sudan. And my message to the council was that first and foremost, the conflict must stop. Political leaders on all sides and political leaders with political influence on all sides must re-double efforts to find political solution.”
10. Zoom out press room

Storyline

The United Nations Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Kyung-wha Kang said that the humanitarian community needs to do “some innovative, out-of-the-box thinking on how to found these huge crises” if it’s to provide humanitarian aid to estimated 78 million people in 22 countries that will need assistance in 2015.

A year of conflict has “devastated” South Sudan, the United Nations Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator said at UN Headquarters today, as she briefed journalists on her recent visit to that crisis-torn country and to Ethiopia.

Kang, who is also UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs said fighting displaced some 1.9 million within the country, with many thousands seeking refuge in UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) bases as they fled attacks in fear for their lives. Many more had fled into the bush and were too fearful to return to their homes.

Political in-fighting between South Sudan President Salva Kiir and his former deputy, Riek Machar, started in mid-December 2013 and subsequently turned into a full-fledged conflict that has sent nearly 100,000 civilians fleeing to UNMISS bases around the country.

Kang said today that even before the outbreak of hostilities, aid delivery in South Sudan posed major difficulties but the conflict intensified a “bleak” situation. Humanitarians faced active hostility, threats to their lives and significant logistical pressures.

A total of 13 humanitarian workers had died since November 2013, but their efforts meant that assistance reached 3.5 million people, that a famine was averted, and that a cholera outbreak had been suppressed.

Despite such efforts, however, 2.5 million people would face food insecurity next year and aid organizations needed $600m to kick-start their 2015 operations. Pre-positioning of assets and preparations ahead of the rainy season in April would be necessary, as up to 60 per cent of the country’s roads would become impassable.

In addition, previous dry seasons had seen escalations of violence, and she said she expected the same to happen now. An uptick in violence had already been seen in some provinces.

During her visit to Ethiopia, Kang traveled to the town of Gambella, on the border with South Sudan, where many South Sudanese refugees had fled. Up to 40 per cent of the 472,000 refugees fleeing South Sudan arrived in Ethiopia, she noted, adding that Kenya and Uganda were also major stopping points.

She was impressed by the Ethiopian Government’s efforts to help refugees and she pointed out that resources required to support the refugee population were increasingly stretched as the needs and scale of requirements grew to “tremendous” levels.

While in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, she had briefed the African Union Peace and Security Council, noting that her message, first and foremost, was that “the conflict must stop.” She called on those with influence on the South Sudanese parties to redouble their efforts to find a political solution and on both parties to the conflict to respect ceasefire commitments and international legal obligations.