Food air drops start amid severe hunger in South Sudan

Details: Written/Submitted by External Source; Category: South Sudan & African News From Various Sources; Published: 03 April 2014; Hits: 1802

A family of refugees distributes cooking oil received from the World Food Program on Wednesday in Nyal, South Sudan. (Ilya Gridneff, The Associated Press)

NYAL, South Sudan — South Sudan villagers, fleeing fighting across the country, are eating grass and roots to survive as the World Food Program starts costly air drops of food to northern parts of the country.The air drops, three times more expensive than road deliveries, are straining the ramped-up humanitarian response. Only a third of the U.N.'s requested $1.27 billion has been raised for the crisis.The WFP's top official, executive director Ertharin Cousin, visited Nyal in Unity state Tuesday before heading on Wednesday to the Ethiopian border town of Gambela, a town overwhelmed by nearly 70,000 South Sudanese fleeing their country's fighting, which started in December.A massive Ilyushin plane has started dropping more than 30 tons of food in the northern states. Each drop provides at least 15 days of rations for 18,000 people, intended to help those stranded between pro-government and anti-government troops.Because of oncoming rains, "in a few weeks this area will be totally inaccessible by road, so in order to continue to feed these people, we need to already have the food in here, and by air is the only means," Cousin said. About the conflict The politically fueled ethnic violence continues between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebel soldiers loyal to dismissed former Vice President Riek Machar, despite a Jan. 23 cease-fire agreement. The U.N. reports that in the 100 days since the South Sudan conflict started, more than 1 million people have fled their homes and 3.7 million are at high risk of food insecurity.