The Collo Community Association of the USA: Urgent Humanitarian Appeal for Needy People, South Sudan

To:
H.E. Mr. António Guterres
Secretary-General of the United Nations
405 East 42nd Street, New York
NY, 10017, USA

From:
The Collo Community Association of The USA
181 West Red Oak Dr # 202
Memphis, TN 38112
January 26, 2019

Subject: Urgent Humanitarian Appeal for Needy People in Shilluk Kingdom

Dear Your Excellency António Guterres:

We, the members of the Chollo Community Association of The USA are appealing to the United Nations, the international community, and to all other humanitarian relief agencies to assist the population in the Collo (Shilluk) Kingdom which has been deeply affected by hunger. Urgent relief is needed by the people, many of whom are Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs). Children and youth comprise more than half of the displaced as well as half of those in need of critical humanitarian assistance. There are dire needs for food and medicines due to drought conditions that led to crop failures this year in the Collo Kingdom and as a result of the conflict in South Sudan which caused the economic collapse of the country. Hundreds of thousands of families no longer have any source of income as a result of losing their harvest.

Five years of civil war in South Sudan has left hundreds of thousands of people in several counties across the Collo Kingdom facing starvation, displaced, and dependent on humanitarian food supplies. Indeed, the most vulnerable are children, many of whom suffer from severe malnutrition. Furthermore, the lack of food and nutrition increases the risk of malnutrition - related mortality among children under 5 and especially babies under 6 months old.

Recently, the Fashoda state authorities alerted the UN and the international community about this dire situation. According to Mr. Othur Okuj, Fashodo State Information Minister, “there is a looming hunger in the state due to crop failure last year. We are urgently appealing to the UN and humanitarian agencies to help us because they know our situation and what is happening.”

Your Excellency, your intervention to provide humanitarian relief for the civilians dying of hunger in Fashodo state in Upper Nile is urgently needed. People are struggling to survive since they have limited access to basic goods and shelter. The UN and humanitarian relief agencies must act speedily to prevent this crisis from turning into a “catastrophe.”

As a voice for the voiceless, we appeal to the UN Emergency Relief Agency, USAID, EU Humanitarian, FAO, UNICEF, WFP, and other humanitarian partners to take urgent action to rescue the population of the Collo Kingdom. We strongly appeal to the UN to airdrop food to save the population, including children and elders who are at a high risk of starvation. Thank you for your consideration.

Yours Sincerely,

Jwothab Othow

Signed by the Chairperson of the Collo Community Association of the USA