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STORY: UN / SOUTH SUDAN WFP PRESSER
TRT: 02:37
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 09 APRIL 2025, NEW YORK CITY
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
09 APRIL 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mary-Ellen McGroarty, Representative and Country Director in South Sudan, World Food Program (WFP):
“The conflict and the violence are driving people and communities from their homes in some of the most toughest, most vulnerable, food insecure areas of South Sudan. And this is happening as South Sudan, as we're entering the annual lean season. It's the time of year when hunger reaches its peak. And right now, we are seriously at a critical tipping point.”
4. Wide shot, press room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mary-Ellen McGroarty, Representative and Country Director in South Sudan, World Food Program (WFP):
“Nearly 7.7 million people - that's over half the population - are already facing crisis, emergency or catastrophic levels of hunger here in South Sudan. This is among the worst levels of food insecurity that we have ever seen in the country, and particularly since independence. 40 percent of these people are in the Greater Upper Nile region, which is currently impacted by the escalating conflict.”
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Mary-Ellen McGroarty, Representative and Country Director in South Sudan, World Food Program (WFP):
“Again, in South Sudan, we are witnessing the devasted impact that conflict has in driving hunger. Communities have fled with just the clothes on their backs and meagre livelihoods, and seasonal coping strategies are abandoned. Fighting in the Greater Upper Nile has already forced approximately 100,000 people to flee their homes.”
7. Wide shot, press room
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Mary-Ellen McGroarty, Representative and Country Director in South Sudan, World Food Program (WFP):
“These areas are some of the most remote areas of the country. Physical access can be challenging at the best of times, but with active conflict WFP cannot go up, we cannot go down the river. And these are areas where there are no roads, no cars, no trucks. And when we're bringing in food, we need to bring it in by river or we needed to bring it in by air.”
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Mary-Ellen McGroarty, Representative and Country Director in South Sudan, World Food Program (WFP):
“At this juncture, this country, South Sudan, is in no position to withstand another war. An escalation in the conflict is already devastating for families and communities in the throes of food insecurity, and we're only going to see it getting worse and it will be more difficult for us to pull them from it.”
10. Med shot, journalist
11. Wide shot, end of presser
As over half the population in South Sudan are already facing crisis, emergency or catastrophic levels of hunger, the World Food Program (WFP) representative in the country, Mary-Ellen McGroarty said, “at this juncture, this country, South Sudan, is in no position to withstand another war.”
According to the WFP, vulnerable families in the northeast of South Sudan are at a critical tipping point as conflict escalates and hunger nears record levels.
Briefing remotely from Juba, McGroarty said, “the conflict and the violence are driving people and communities from their homes in some of the most toughest, most vulnerable, food insecure areas of South Sudan. And this is happening as South Sudan, as we're entering the annual lean season. It's the time of year when hunger reaches its peak.”
She said this was “among the worst levels of food insecurity that we have ever seen in the country, and particularly since independence,” and noted that “40 percent of these people are in the Greater Upper Nile region, which is currently impacted by the escalating conflict.”
McGroarty said, “again, in South Sudan, we are witnessing the devasted impact that conflict has in driving hunger. Communities have fled with just the clothes on their backs and meagre livelihoods, and seasonal coping strategies are abandoned.”
She said these “are some of the most remote areas of the country. Physical access can be challenging at the best of times, but with active conflict WFP cannot go up, we cannot go down the river. And these are areas where there are no roads, no cars, no trucks. And when we're bringing in food, we need to bring it in by river or we needed to bring it in by air.”
The WFP official stressed that “an escalation in the conflict is already devastating for families and communities in the throes of food insecurity, and we're only going to see it getting worse and it will be more difficult for us to pull them from it.”
According to the WFP, as the pre-harvest lean season begins in South Sudan, almost 7.7 million people face levels of hunger categorised as crisis, emergency, or catastrophic (IPC3+). This is close to record highs.
More than 1.1 million people have fled to South Sudan since the beginning of the Sudan war, most arriving in Upper Nile. Almost half of those currently facing catastrophic (IPC5) levels of hunger in South Sudan are returnees from Sudan.
WFP is aiming to bring food assistance to more than 450,000 people in Upper Nile state, prioritizing those facing emergency and catastrophic levels of hunger (IPC4 + 5), but active conflict is slowing progress.
