UN estimates that nearly 910,000 people are affected by floods in South Sudan

Some 910,000 people have been affected by floods in South Sudan in recent months, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which noted that […] ......

Construction work on Nile River dam to prevent flooding in South Sudan (RIC FRANCIS / ZUMA PRESS / CONTACTOPHOT)

 

Some 910,000 people have been affected by floods in South Sudan in recent months, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which noted that about 65 percent of those affected are concentrated in three states.

The agency said 909,000 people have been affected by floods in a total of 29 counties, with 64 percent of them in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Warrap and Unity and the destruction of crop fields and livestock, deepening the humanitarian crisis.

OCHA has highlighted that the floods have also washed away roads and bridges, destroyed houses, schools and health facilities and covered existing wells and latrines in these areas, contaminating water sources and increasing the risk of disease.

Thus, the agency indicated in September that around 8.9 million people are in need of humanitarian aid in the country due to flooding, high levels of food insecurity, violence and disease outbreaks.

OCHA further noted that there are 2.2 million internally displaced persons in the country, while 2.33 million people have fled to neighboring countries because of the humanitarian crisis. In total, there are about 7.7 million people suffering from malnutrition, including 1.4 million children.

The floods, coupled with violence and the coronavirus pandemic, are worsening the humanitarian situation in the African country, mired in a transition process following the 2018 peace deal between the government and the main rebel groups.

South Sudan has a unity government that got off the ground following the materialization of the peace agreement signed in 2018 by the president, Salva Kiir, and rebel leader Riek Machar, who was reappointed to the position he held before the civil war. Among the main pending points is the unification of the security forces, scheduled for November.