South Sudan’s Bleak Future

It is perhaps the starkest measure of global inequality: In a world glutted with food, 20 million people^[1] are on the brink of famine. It would be a colossal moral failure to allow millions to die of starvation because of a failure of will to provide help.

On Monday, the United Nations said famine has hit 100,000 people in South Sudan^[2], where over 40 percent of the population is in urgent need of food aid^[3]. Famine is declared when, among other criteria^[4], two or more people out of 10,000 die every day. The secretary general, António Guterres, warned^[5] on Wednesday that northern Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen were also at risk of famine. The root of this cascading catastrophe is deadly conflict. Drought, made worse by climate change, has also contributed.

In South Sudan^[6], the civil war that erupted in 2013 rages still. More than 1.5 million South Sudanese have fled^[7] their country. Among those still caught in the conflict are more than a quarter million severely malnourished children. Jeremy Hopkins, the Unicef officer in South Sudan, warns: “If we do not reach these children with urgent aid, many of them will die.” In northern Nigeria, where at least five million people are at risk of famine, the military is battling Boko Haram insurgents. In Somalia, where more than a quarter million people died of famine in 2011, experts expect this year’s crops to fail after two years of drought. And in Yemen, where a coalition led by Saudi Arabia — and backed by the United States — is battling Houthi rebels, more than seven million people are in urgent need of food.

On Tuesday, South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, promised “unimpeded access” for aid organizations. That is a promise the government has been made before, yet aid has been blocked. However, the biggest obstacle now is a lack of funds to provide emergency food aid. The United Nations says^[8] it needs $4.4 billion by the end of March to avert famine, yet barely 2 percent is in hand. As the United Nations’ biggest donor, this is no time for the United States to abandon its commitments.

On Wednesday, the European Commission announced its own emergency aid package for South Sudan of 82 million euros ($87 million); Britain is making 100 million pounds ($125 million) available this year. It will be an unconscionable failure of moral leadership if the United States does not step up. Washington can also continue diplomatic efforts to bring the peace needed to guarantee food security in the long term.

References

1. ^{^} 20 million people (www.nytimes.com)
2. ^{^} in South Sudan (www.nytimes.com)
3. ^{^} More articles about food aid. (topics.nytimes.com)
4. ^{^} criteria (www.un.org)
5. ^{^} warned (www.un.org)
6. ^{^} More articles about South Sudan. (topics.nytimes.com)
7. ^{^} have fled (www.unhcr.org)
8. ^{^} says (www.un.org)