ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The United Nations said it was ramping up deliveries of fishing kits to famine-hit areas of South Sudan to help some of the 100,000 people facing imminent starvation in the war-ravaged country.The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said it plans to hand out fishing lines, hooks and nets to tens of thousands of families over the next few months, as fighting and a drought have left many with virtually no other source of food. "Fishery equipment is the best tool for them to catch something to eat quickly," FAO's representative in South Sudan, Serge Tissot, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.
The United Nations declared famine last week in parts of South Sudan, with about 5.5 million people expected to have no reliable source of food by July.The disaster is largely man-made. Oil-rich South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, plunged into civil war in 2013, after President Salva Kiir fired his deputy Riek Machar. Since then, the conflict has increasingly split the country along ethnic lines, leading the U.N. to warn of a potential genocide. The fighting has prevented many farmers from harvesting their crops, and hyperinflation, which reached more than 800 percent last year, has put the price of imported food beyond the reach of many.
Tissot said violence had slowed down the humanitarian response, restricting aid access to some areas. Armed groups looted about $3 million of aid equipment, including fishing kits, seeds and tools, from the FAO's warehouse in the capital, Juba, in July and it has taken months to replenish stocks, he said.A new shipment of fishing gear was expected to arrive in the coming weeks, allowing the agency to revamp an emergency distribution, mainly in Unity and Upper Nile states, he added.
FAO said it aimed to hand out some 150,000 kits over the next few months, up from 120,000 delivered in 2016. The kits could offer a life-saving source of food to many, according to the agency, as some families have been forced to live off weeds and water lilies roots to survive."In many locations people are using mosquito nets for fishing. That is very bad for the resources as it's killing the next generation of fish," he said in an interview. (Reporting by Umberto Bacchi @UmbertoBacchi, Editing by Ros Russell.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit news.trust.org[1])
References
- ^ news.trust.org (news.trust.org)
Newer articles:
- Hiding in swamps to escape militias, families in the grip of famine are forced to eat WEEDS to survive as 100,000 face starvation following three years of war in South Sudan - 28/02/2017 23:42
- Students Offer Ideas to Solve South Sudan Conflict - 28/02/2017 11:37
- South Sudan’s Bishops Cry Out for Aid, Protection for Civilians - 28/02/2017 10:34
- South Sudan: UN official calls for unfettered relief access to avert further catastrophe - 28/02/2017 09:45
- Aid workers leave famine-hit South Sudan area for safety - 28/02/2017 07:41
Older news items
- South Sudanese dying of hunger: What is a famine? - 27/02/2017 22:29
- Exhausted S.Sudanese refugees flock to Sudan transit camp - 27/02/2017 11:58
- South Sudan’s Bleak Future - 27/02/2017 05:37
- In Famine-Hit South Sudan, Women And Children Eat Water Lilies To Survive - 26/02/2017 12:54
- 32,000 South Sudanese already entered Sudan in 2017: UNHCR - 26/02/2017 11:35
Latest news items (all categories):
- South Sudan can leverage China’s AI path to bridge the digital divide - 16/09/2026 16:04
- Credible Elections Are No Longer Possible in South Sudan - What Next? - 16/09/2026 15:59
- South Sudan's president replaces electoral chief three months before scheduled polls - 16/09/2026 15:56
- Turkish Airlines is pulling out of 5 African routes, including South Sudan - 16/09/2026 15:23
- ‘Super El Niño’ deepens hunger crisis in South Sudan – WFP - 16/09/2026 15:19
Random articles (all categories):
- Hopeful Signs for Change in Sudan Meet with Cautious Pessimism - 15/09/2019 16:48
- Civil war still rages in Nuba Mountains, thwarting Sudan, South Sudan peace - Charlotte Observer - 07/01/2013 16:58
- In east DR Congo, S.Sudan's lost rebel army finds a haven - 27/10/2017 22:15
- Coronavirus updates: South Sudan index case, new Jack Ma donation - 06/04/2020 08:56
- Time for truth and reconciliation in South Sudan - 04/06/2013 21:52
Popular articles:
- Who is the darkest person in the world, according to Guinness World Record? - 25/10/2022 02:34 - Read 149594 times
- School exam results in South Sudan show decline - 01/04/2012 17:58 - Read 28115 times
- Top 10 weakest currency exchange rates in Africa in 2023 - 19/07/2023 00:24 - Read 25198 times
- No oil in troubled waters - 25/03/2014 15:02 - Read 24464 times
- NDSU student from South Sudan receives scholarship - In-Forum - 29/09/2012 01:44 - Read 22416 times
