Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
11-11-2024
UNITED NATIONS/ KHARTOUM: Flooding in South Sudan has displaced more than 379,000 people, according to a United Nations update that warned about a surge in malaria.
Aid agencies have said the world’s youngest country, highly vulnerable to climate change, is in the grip of its worst flooding in decades, mainly in the north.
The floods have affected about 1.4 million people, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Friday, across 43 counties and the disputed Abyei region, which is claimed by both South Sudan and Sudan.
It added in a statement that more than 379,000 people were displaced in 22 counties and in Abyei.
“A surge in malaria has been reported in Jonglei, Unity, Upper Nile, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Central Equatoria and Western Equatoria states overwhelming the health system and exacerbating the situation and impact in flood-hit areas,” the UN agency said.
Since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan has been plagued by chronic instability, violence and economic stagnation as well as climate disasters such as drought and floods.
The World Bank said last month that the latest floods were “worsening an already critical humanitarian situation marked by severe food insecurity, economic decline, continued conflict, disease outbreaks, and the repercussions of the Sudan conflict“, which has seen several hundred thousand people pour into South Sudan.
More than seven million people are food insecure in South Sudan and 1.65 million children are malnourished, according to the UN’s World Food Program.
The country faces a further period of political paralysis after the president’s office announced in September yet another extension to a transitional period agreed to in a 2018 peace deal, delaying elections by two years to December 2026.
South Sudan has vast oil resources but the vital source of revenue was decimated in February when an export pipeline was damaged in neighboring war-torn Sudan.
The war in Sudan is entering a new phase as the Sudanese army and its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fight over the capital, Khartoum, and the last contested state in the sprawling western region of Darfur.
The RSF has controlled most of Khartoum ever since the war erupted in April 2023.
The armed group, headed by Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, has looted and confiscated homes and warehouses across the capital.
Whoever could flee Khartoum, has, but many others had to stay under the mercy of the RSF, which has subjected women to sexual violence and randomly rounded up and detained men for days or months.
Those who lived under RSF rule say the paramilitary often killed families for refusing to hand over their daughters or mothers, as well as their homes and belongings.
On September 26, the army, which has also been criticized for human rights abuses and failure to protect civilians from the RSF, launched a sweeping offensive to retake the city.
As warplanes and troops descended on Khartoum, the army finally recaptured some territory in the capital, according to local sources and reporters on the ground.
The army has reportedly captured three bridges, including Halfaya, which allowed it to break an RSF siege on its military facilities in Kadroo, a nearby neighborhood.
Most people are welcoming the army as liberators, relieved to have a semblance of stability return to their neighborhoods. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
