Guterres Warns of Famine Risk in 4 Countries Including Yemen, South Sudan

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech on disarmament and denuclearisation at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) in Geneva, Switzerland, May 24, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said four countries are at the risk of famine and widespread food insecurity including Yemen, South Sudan, Congo and northeast Nigeria, stressing that the lives of millions of people are in danger.

In a note to Security Council members obtained by The Associated Press (AP) on Friday, Guterres said the four countries rank “among the largest food crises in the world,” according to the 2020 Global Report on Food Crises and recent food security analyses.

“Action is needed now,” Guterres stressed.

“Having endured years of armed conflict and related violence, the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen, northeast Nigeria and South Sudan are again facing the specter of heightened food insecurity and potentially famine.”

The UN chief also warned that humanitarian operations are getting delayed or obstructed from delivering life-saving assistance.

He said food insecurity in conflict-affected countries “is now further exacerbated by natural disasters, economic shocks and public health crises, all compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

With only 22% of the UN humanitarian appeal currently funded, Guterres said, “core programs will need to be reduced or suspended.”

In Yemen, where the international community mobilized to prevent famine two years ago, he said, “the risk is slowly returning.”

Escalating conflict and economic decline brought the Arab world’s poorest nation to the brink of famine two years ago, and similar conditions and worsening key indicators are emerging today, he said.

In northeast Nigeria’s Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, he said, “alarming levels of food insecurity and hunger have arisen largely as a result of the actions” of extremists affiliated with armed groups.

Guterres said estimates suggest more than 10 million people in the three states — about 80% of the population — need humanitarian assistance and protection, an almost 50% increase since last year and the highest recorded since humanitarian operations began. Yet, the UN appeal is only 33% funded, its lowest level, he said.

According to AP, in South Sudan’s Jonglei and Greater Pibor administrative area, Guterres said the situation deteriorated rapidly in the first half of 2020, “fueled by escalating violence and insecurity.”

Guterres said the latest outlook from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network “is flagging worsening catastrophe conditions ... in areas affected by the violence.”