Catholic aid network warns of 'forgotten crisis' in South Sudan

Source: CAFOD

A stark warning that South Sudan is "heading towards a scenario of despair" has been issued by the Caritas aid network in the country. Unending violence means millions of people need help just to survive from day to day.

"People are living in constant fear and insecurity, suffering mentally, physically and are starving," Caritas South Sudan and its partners, which include CAFOD and Trocaire, warned after a meeting this month in the capital, Juba. "In the coming months heavy rains will add to the already untold suffering for the people."

A statement issued by the local president of Caritas, Bishop Erkolano Lodu Tombe of Yei, says South Sudan is becoming a "forgotten crisis". The world's youngest country, which achieved independence in July 2011, has been riven since December 2013 by fighting between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and followers of the former Vice President, Dr Riek Machar.

The conflict has escalated as other local militias join the fighting, and the Caritas statement calls for an end to tribal manipulation, which is fuelling violence between communities. "Politicised tribalism safeguards the vested interest of a few, over and above the needs of the innocent population," the aid officials say.

Statistics are hard to come by, but the UN estimates that between 50,000 and 300,000 people have been killed and an untold number injured in the conflict. An estimated 4.5 million people have been displaced, either living in makeshift camps, or fleeing to neighbouring Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Kenya. Distressingly, 85 per cent of the refugees are women and children.

Parts of South Sudan slipped into famine in 2017, much of the country is grappling with cholera, and UN agencies are warning that more than seven million people, almost two thirds of the population, won't have enough food to meet their daily needs without sustained humanitarian assistance.

CAFOD and Trocaire, alongside local Caritas aid workers, continue to respond to the humanitarian crisis, delivering food, water and sanitation. In Adior, 6,150 people have been reached with food aid this April, and more than 24,600 people receiving help across the Yirrol East region of South Sudan.

"The Church is consistently advocating for peace in the country," said Michael O'Riordan, CAFOD's Emergency Response Manager in South Sudan. "We have saved lives with our aid, yet the situation has become worse in the past 12 months.

"It would be easy to despair, but the work we are doing is vital. I am also inspired by the Church here which is in a unique position to speak freely for the people of South Sudan. And they do every day, though the burden shows on their faces and in their hearts."