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SOUTH SUDAN / HUNGER
STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / HUNGER
TRT: 2.34
SOURCE: UNMISS / WFP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 16 DECEMBER 2011, JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN / FILE
FILE – WFP - 16 NOVEMBER 2011, DOLIEB HILL, SOUTH SUDAN
1. Wide shot, woman walking in village
2. Various shots, woman pounding sorghum
3. Med shot, children
UNMISS - 16 DECEMBER 2011, JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Iseminger, Deputy Coordinator WFP South Sudan:
“Since the Month of May there has been a lot of trade disruption due to border closure and erratic opening along the northern border with the Republic of Sudan. This has made dramatic impact on people’s ability to get the most basic goods that they need to feed their families. So instead of being able to in the hunger season to just go and exchange a goat for cereal or other food products, what they are able to get on the market, because the price have double or tripled, they can only get a fraction of what they might have gotten in a previous year.”
FILE – WFP - 15 NOVEMBER 2011, MALAKAL TOWN SOUTH SUDAN
5. Wide shot, market
6. Med shot, market stall
UNMISS - 16 DECEMBER 2011, JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Iseminger Deputy Coordinator, WFP South Sudan:
“When people are hungry or when people can’t afford to buy food, when people are having to be dependent on support from outsiders, this is a storm both internally to them, because they feel that they cant control their lives and they have no place to think for a future, and its an external storm because food and hunger when its storming without any type of outlet, it makes for people to feel that there is something that is on the precipice of disaster.”
FILE – WFP - 17 NOVEMBER 2011, MALAKAL PORT SOUTH SUDAN
8. Wide shot, people off loading commercial supplies from a barge
9. Med shot, man lifting bag
10. Med shot, men carrying bags
11. Wide shot, bags being loaded onto truck
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Challis Mc Donough, WFP Spokesperson:
“Too few barges like this are able to get that food into the markets here, which is one of the reasons why the prices of staple commodities like sorghum are very, very high. Humanitarian agencies including WFP have also had difficulties in being able to get commodities across the border so that’s one of the problems that we are facing as we are preparing to trying and cope with humanitarian crises in South Sudan.”
FILE – WFP - 25 NOVEMBER 2011, JUBA PORT SOUTH SUDAN
13. Various shots, WFP product PumpyDoz being loaded onto barge destined for Malakal and Renk in Upper Nile State.
Damaged crops combined with conflict and insecurity are threatening to leave some 2.5 million people in South Sudan – the world’s newest country – in critical conditions unless food assistance is provided immediately, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today.
Recent erratic rains have damaged crops, and border closures between Sudan and South Sudan are disrupting food trade, leading to frequent shortages and high food prices. Conflict and insecurity aggravate the situation. South Sudan has been beset by outbreaks of ethnic violence since it became independent in July from Sudan, and the presence of many armed groups and militias across the country, as well as an increase in refugees add further complications.
SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Iseminger, Deputy Coordinator WFP South Sudan:
“Since the Month of May there has been a lot of trade disruption due to border closure and erratic opening along the northern border with the Republic of Sudan. This has made dramatic impact on people’s ability to get the most basic goods that they need to feed their families. So instead of being able to in the hunger season to just go and exchange a goat for cereal or other food products, what they are able to get on the market, because the price have double or tripled, they can only get a fraction of what they might have gotten in a previous year.”
WFP officials have characterized the looming humanitarian crisis in South Sudan as a “gathering storm of hunger”.
SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Iseminger Deputy Coordinator, WFP South Sudan:
“When people are hungry or when people can’t afford to buy food, when people are having to be dependent on support from outsiders, this is a storm both internally to them, because they feel that they cant control their lives and they have no place to think for a future, and its an external storm because food and hunger when its storming without any type of outlet, it makes for people to feel that there is something that is on the precipice of disaster.”
Due to the poor infrastructure, up to 60 percent of the country becomes completely cut-off during the rainy season. WFP urgently needs additional donor funding in order to complete preposition of food for areas that will be cut-off after March.
The agency estimates it will need emergency funds of about $92 million to address hunger needs in South Sudan in the first four months of next year.
SOUNDBITE (English) Challis Mc Donough, WFP Spokesperson:
“Too few barges like this are able to get that food into the markets here, which is one of the reasons why the prices of staple commodities like sorghum are very, very high. Humanitarian agencies including WFP have also had difficulties in being able to get commodities across the border so that’s one of the problems that we are facing as we are preparing to trying and cope with humanitarian crises in South Sudan.”
WFP has said it would scale up its operation to support 2.7 million hungry and conflict-affected people in 2012. Assistance will include providing highly fortified supplementary foods to more than 500,000 children, pregnant women and nursing mothers.
In addition to emergency assistance, WFP will help communities and families become more self-sufficient and productive through food-for-assets activities, while laying the groundwork for other projects to build longer-term resilience.
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